


Does Anybody See Me?

by pineappledalek



Category: Psych (TV 2006)
Genre: Angst, Drama, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mystery, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Pre-Slash, Slow Burn, Supernatural Elements, attempted exorcism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:21:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 50
Words: 69,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28813371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pineappledalek/pseuds/pineappledalek
Summary: The one he is secretly crushing on hurts him more than he could imagine. So what does Shawn do? He runs. But how did he end up at the Psych office? Where is his bike? And why can no one see him? Things are about to get crazy.Pre-Shassie Slash.There's violence, mutilation(?), supernatural elements, exorcism, strong language, and non-consensual touching(?) (but no sex scenes)Originally posted on ff.net in 2012.
Relationships: Carlton Lassiter/Shawn Spencer
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! This is another story originally posted on fanfiction.net from 2012. It was my first venture into writing slash and I was so nervous that I asked for a beta reader. 
> 
> The plot idea is loosely based on the 2007 film “The Invisible”, but evolved into something quite different. The title is a spin-off of a Casting Crowns song, "Does Anybody Hear Her" (but the story has nothing to do with the song).
> 
> This takes place before season 4 starts and sometime after the season 3 Christmas special. There is a slight spoiler for Ep 1x11 "He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, He Loves Me, Oops He's Dead"
> 
> Disclaimer: I'm not associated with Psych, The Invisible, Casting Crowns or anything else that I might mention in this story. I have no expertise in anything, especially medicine, so please go easy on me if I get something wrong.
> 
> Enjoy!

_CHAPTER 1_

Tuesday started just like any other day. Well, just like any other day when Gus was in San Francisco for a pharmaceutical conference for the week, and had given Shawn specific instructions not to call Gus under any circumstances. 

_"It's only 7 days Shawn, and I need to be there if I want to stay in good standings with my bosses. Technically, it is only six and a half, so you can totally manage on your own for that long. Please try not to call me unless it's an emergency."_

Added onto that they had not worked a case in 10 days; it came as no surprise to Shawn that he was getting bored and lonely by the third day. After playing five different video games before lunch, he decided to check out the police station to see if he could find anything to do, even if it was just a missing pet case.

* * *

The station was humming with activity and Shawn was hopeful for a second, until he realized that it was just because some famous person was visiting and wanted police protection for their event. Putting on a cheery face, Shawn went in search of his favorite detective.

Nobody knew this except Gus, Shawn himself barely figured it out a few months ago, but Shawn had a crush on Head Detective Carlton Lassiter. Boy, was that an awkward conversation:

_Shawn was just innocently telling Gus about the most recent prank he had pulled on Lassie, when Gus squeaked out, "Oh my God! You like Lassiter!"_

_Shawn just stared at Gus for a few seconds before shaking his head, "What?! Gus, have you been tasting some of your samples again?"_

_Gus leaned forward in his chair. "No Shawn! Think about it: In the last few years, you've never been on more than 2 dates with the same girl, but you always seem to have time to annoy Lassiter."_

_"That's because he's such a stick in the mud, that it's a battle each day to get him to smile!"_

_"It's like in elementary school when you pull the pig tails of the girl you like."_

_"Gus, Lassie is neither a girl nor does he have pigtails."_

_"It's an analogy, Shawn!"_

_"I can't do this with you right now. I'm gonna get a smoothie. Maybe it will give you some time to get your mind off the crazy theory train." Shawn quickly made his way to the door, ignoring Gus' parting words._

_"Shawn, if anyone needs to get off the crazy train, it's you. For once, you can't see what's right in front of you."_

Needless to say, neither one of them brought it up again, although Gus paid closer attention whenever they were around Carlton, and Shawn toned down his antics, just a smidge.

Shawn quickly spotted Carlton hunched over a report on his desk, angrily tapping his pen. Shawn hesitated for a second before taking a deep breath and bounding over. "Hey Lassie! How's it hanging? Got any juicy cases that I can look at?"

Carlton did not look up as he growled, "No. Now go away, I don't have time for your hijinks today."

"Why not?" Shawn pouted as he sat on the edge of the desk, bouncing his leg awfully close to Carlton's leg. "Hijinks are so much fun! They are made to brighten your day!"

Carlton snapped his head up and glared at Shawn. "I'm only going to say this once and then I want you to leave and never come back! I do not need you and I do not want you anywhere near my cases, my desk, or even my station! Now get the hell out of here before I do something that only one of us will regret, mainly you."

Shawn gaped at Carlton. He had only heard Carlton use that tone of voice a few times, and never directed at Shawn. It was usually reserved for only the most heinous of criminals, mainly child molesters/murderers. "You don't mean that, do you?" Shawn asked softly, his heart about ready to break.

"Yes, I do! I am tired of you mucking up my life! Go sell your psychic crap to some other department. I'm through." With that, Carlton grabbed his papers and stormed off.

Shawn sat stunned for a few seconds, until he felt a light touch on his arm. Looking up, he found Juliet giving him a hesitant smile. "Hey Jules!" Shawn croaked. She frowned as he cleared his throat. "What's up?" He felt the tears at the corners of his eyes, but refused to let them fall, especially not in front of Juliet.

"Nothing much. Are you okay? I mean, I saw Carlton snap at you, but I didn't hear what he said." She smiled as she rubbed his arm.

"Aw, nothing he hasn't said before." 'Just not in that tone,' Shawn mentally added.

"Carlton has been a real menace these past few days, ever since his mother came to visit. I know that they don't get along well, but I didn't realize how bad it was. That celebrity in town is not helping either, asking for Carlton by name. He has been staying late every night, usually until the chief kicks him out. I think that his mother leaves tomorrow, so you might want to stay clear of him for the next couple of days; at least until he calms down."

"Thanks for warning, Jules," Shawn smiled, bigger than he was comfortable with, as he got off the desk. "You know what, I just remembered that I'm supposed to have dinner with my dad tonight and I don't want to be late."

"Oh, okay," Juliet said confusedly as she glanced at her watch. It was barely 2pm. "Well, I know that Gus doesn't get back until the weekend, but I have tomorrow off, if you want to hang out?"

"Yeah, I'll let you know. Bye," Shawn hastily left before the tears started to fall.

* * *

Shawn ambled into his dad's house around five, after finding nothing to do at the Psych office. He barely got out a "Hey dad!" before Henry cut him off.

"I don't have time right now for you or your cases, Shawn. It's poker night and I'm running late as it is. The washer picked today of all days to break down on me, and now the floor is soaking wet. So unless you want to grab a mop, I suggest that you scram."

Shawn took one look at Henry's tired and irritated face before nodding and heading back out the door. "I'll see you later then," he mumbled as he shut the door behind him.

Shawn put on his helmet and straddled his motorcycle, but then just sat there, staring at his father's house. What the hell was wrong with him?! He was yelled at twice today and all he wanted to do was to curl up in a ball and let the world pass him by. When did he become such a wimp?

Hearing thunder off in the distance, Shawn quickly kicked his bike into life and headed for his apartment. By the time he got there, it was pouring outside. But Shawn did not care; he had some packing to do. He decided that he needed a break, just for a couple of days since Gus would kill him if he took off for a long span of time. Thinking about his options, he decided to go to Oregon. He had not been there in almost a decade, not since he was kicked off that hazelnut farm for starting a food fight that ended with someone losing an eye.

After throwing a few days worth of clothes in his backpack, Shawn collapsed into a chair and waited for the storm to pass.


	2. Chapter 2

_CHAPTER 2_

Opening his eyes, Shawn knew something was wrong. For one thing, it was almost 3pm and he hardly ever slept past 9am, despite the slacker façade he presented. Another thing, he was on the couch in the Psych office when he hardly ever slept there, except if he was on a tough case. But it had been over a week since his last case. Trying to think back, he could not quite remember what happened last night. Sitting up, Shawn looked around the room. The only other times that he could not remember something was either because he was completely drunk or heavily medicated. Since he did not have a hangover or any noticeable injuries, Shawn turned back to trying to remember what happened.

Since Gus was out of town, Shawn went out for breakfast to people-watch, making up stories for them based on the clues they gave off. He spent a few hours at the Psych office, playing video games and waiting to see if a client would show up. It had been a very slow month, so he did not keep his hopes up. After grabbing lunch on the boardwalk, Shawn headed over to the station.

And then, nothing. Shawn could not remember a thing between then and waking up a few minutes ago. Shaking his head, Shawn decided to visit the station, see if they could clue him in or something.

When he got outside, Shawn was even more confused: his bike was missing. Since he did not see his helmet in the office, he figured that he must have gone drinking somewhere and the bartender confiscated his keys. Yeah, that must have been it.

Shawn reached into his pocket to call a cab, but his phone and wallet were also missing. Sighing, he decided to walk the two miles to the station.

* * *

The walk to the station was oddly uneventful, not that Shawn noticed. He was still trying to remember what had happened the previous day. When he caught sight of Carlton's Crown Vic in front of the police station, an image of a very irritated and slightly intimidating head detective popped in his mind. Shawn felt a stab of heartbreak for a second before both the image and feeling disappeared.

Shawn stood stun for a minute. "What the hell was that?" he whispered, before looking around to see if anyone noticed, but there was no one nearby. Shaking his head, Shawn continued into the station and pushed the episode off as a byproduct of whatever was blocking his memories.

Stepping into the bullpen, Shawn found that it was oddly quiet. Feeling the need to fix this, Shawn shouted, "Good Afternoon, Santa Barbara PD!"

When no one responded, not even a glance his way, Shawn started to feel nervous. Spotting Buzz McNab near the coffee station, Shawn quickly headed over. "Hey Nabby, what's up with everyone? It's like someone died, or something." When Buzz did not say anything, Shawn continued, "Buzz, is this some type of prank? Come on, man. This is so not funny!"

Buzz finally turned from the table with two coffees mugs, only to bump into Shawn, knocking both Shawn and the coffee to the ground.

Barely catching himself before his head hit the ground, Shawn exclaimed, "Dude, Nabby! What is with…?" The words died on his lips when he saw Buzz walking away, 2 cups of coffee still in his hands. Staring at his shirt and then the floor, Shawn did not see any traces of spilled coffee. "What the hell?" Shawn whispered as he slowly got up and followed Buzz.

"Buzz, dude, come on! You can't ignore me forever!" Shawn joked as he ran to catch up with Buzz, only to knock over a cart full of papers and stumble into the wall. Groaning, Shawn turned around to pick the mess up, only to find that there was no mess. The papers were still organized on the cart.

"Impossible," Shawn whispered as he moved closer to the cart. He grabbed a few papers and threw them up in the air. However, when he looked back down; he found them still on the cart, as if they had not been touched. Shaking his head, Shawn ran down the hall, carefully avoiding everyone and everything as he caught up with Buzz, who had just stopped in the doorway of a conference room.

"Buzz, something weird is going…." An irritated voice cut Shawn off.

"O'Hara, for the last time, I'm working on this case and this case alone!" Carlton snapped as he looked through the files in front of him.

Juliet put her hands on top of the files, "But, Carlton! You have not gotten any new leads all week! Besides, your guy has been dead for almost a month, so the odds of getting new information is slim."

"While the chances of finding a missing person alive after a week, with no leads at all, is even less."

The slap that Juliet gave Carlton was so hard that even Shawn flinched. "Whoa, you apparently said the wrong thing there, Lassie." Shawn commented as he rubbed his own cheek in sympathy.

"O'Hara," Carlton warned as he straightened up.

"Don't you dare say that!" Juliet growled, tears starting to slip down her face.

At that moment, Buzz finally announced his presence. "Excuse me, detectives?"

"What, McNab!" Carlton snapped.

"I, um, I brought the coffee you requested, sir." Buzz nervously stepped forward and placed a cup on the table.

Ignoring them, Shawn looked back at Juliet, who had her back turned to the door, and subsequently Shawn. Frowning, he moved around the room to get a better look at her, only to find that she was silently crying. "Oh, Jules. What's wrong?!"

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" Carlton growled; glaring at Buzz until the younger man left the room.

Once the door closed, Carlton took a deep breath before walking over to stand in front of Juliet, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Look, we don't even know that he's missing."

"Yes we, we do," Juliet choked out.

"Wait, who's missing?" Shawn asked as he looked between the two detective's faces.

Carlton sighed, "No, we don't. He has a history of running off…."

"But not without telling someone first."

"Spencer was never the most reliable…." Juliet slapped him again.

"Don't talk about Shawn in the past tense! You just said that he wasn't even missing and yet you're talking about him as if he's already dead!"

"Wait. I'm missing?" Shawn laughed as he looked towards the mirror. "But I'm right, right here." His voice faltered when he only saw Carlton's and Juliet's reflections, and not his own.

"O'Hara, I didn't mean that!" Carlton tried to explain as Juliet picked up her purse and headed towards the door.

"If you're not going to look for him, then I am. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky." Juliet smiled sadly as she opened the door.

"You don't even know where to look!"

"It's better than doing nothing!" Juliet snapped as she left.

Shawn, still marveling over his lack of reflection, had not even noticed that Juliet left until Carlton threw a chair across the room, inadvertently knocking Shawn over in the process. "Damn, Lassie! What the hell is wrong with you?" Shawn looked up in time to see Carlton frustratingly knock all of the papers off the table before storming from the room himself.

Shaking his head, Shawn slowly stood up. "I've gotta see my dad," he whispered before sprinting out of the room.


	3. Chapter 3

_ CHAPTER 3 _

Arriving at his dad's house, Shawn quickly entered through the kitchen door. "Dad? Dad, where are you? Something really weird is going on and I could use some help." He checked the living room and was about to head upstairs when he thought he heard his own voice coming from the front porch. Puzzled, Shawn changed directions and headed back outside.

He found Henry sitting in one of the porch chairs. A bottle of beer in one hand and his phone in the other, staring out towards the ocean.

"Hey Dad, you gotta help me! I don't know what to do! Nobody can see or hear me and…" Shawn sighed, "And apparently neither can you."

Henry took a sip from his beer before hitting the redial button on his phone. It rang once before it beeped and a voice mail message came on.  _ "Hey, you've reached Shawn Spencer, the psychic detective with the awesome hair. Unfortunately, I'm busy communing with the spirits or working on a case. So if you need to get a hold of me, please leave a message after the beep; or call my associate St Francis of the Lavender heads. If this is my father, then I'm sorry, I won't be able to get back to you for a few days, at the earliest, so don't even bother leaving a message since I already know what you want and you won't get it back. BEEP!" _

Henry sighed as he ended the call, "Where the hell are you, kid?"

"I'm right here, dad." Shawn whispered as Henry took another sip before dialing again. Shaking his head, Shawn jumped off the porch and made his way towards the Psych office.

* * *

Running down the streets, Shawn said out loud everything that he knew so far. "Okay, so I woke up in the Psych office after not remembering anything since last Tuesday morning. I am like the invisible man since no one can see, hear, or even touch me. No one has heard from me all week, everyone assuming that I have gone missing. Except Lassie, who thinks I'm dead." Shawn felt his heart clench at that. Shaking his head, he continued. "I can't be dead, because there is no such thing as ghosts. But if I'm not dead, then how the hell did I just run the 3 miles back to the Psych office without breaking a sweat or being winded." Shawn stopped and stared at the office window before going inside.

Hearing the shuffling of papers coming from the main room, Shawn quietly and cautiously made his way to the inner office, before he remembered that no one could hear him anyways and quickly entered. He was surprised, to say the least, to find Gus rummaging through his own desk drawer. 

"Gus? What are you doing, buddy? Because you sure ain't cleaning." Shawn looked around and saw papers everywhere: on the desks, the chairs, the floor, even in the sink. "You know it's a mess when I'm complaining."

Gus slammed the drawer closed before going through the papers on top of the desk. "Where the hell is it Shawn? I know it's got to be around here somewhere."

"Dude, what are you talking about? Moreover, what is with your clothes?! Have you even changed in the last month?" Gus' shirt was a half unbuttoned, dirty, wrinkled mess, and his pants were not faring much better.

Groaning out of frustration, Gus got up and started going through Shawn's desk.

"Dude! Whatever you are looking for, you most likely will not find it there. Come on, Gus! Leave my desk alone!" Shawn whined.

A knock on the doorframe made both Gus and Shawn look up. "Jules!" Shawn exclaimed as he got closer to her. "Please knock some sense into my buddy for me!"

"Gus, what's going on?" Juliet asked as she surveyed the room. "It looks like a tornado swept through here."

Gus rubbed his head as he said, "I can't find it."

"Can't find what?" Juliet and Shawn asked at the same time.

Gus shrugged as he collapsed in Shawn's chair. "A letter, card, post-it, anything really. Something that tells me Shawn just left for a few days and will be back soon. That he's not missing, or kidnapped, or de-dead." Gus said dejectedly.

"Oh, Gus," Juliet said as she hurried forward and engulfed him in a hug.

"Buddy, I'm not dead! You've gotta believe me," Shawn said as he started pacing back and forth. "I'm not dead. Because if I was dead, I would not be here right now. Although, I have no other way to explain this. But I know that I am not dead! And I am going to prove it. Just hang in there, buddy!" Shawn yelled as he sprinted out of the office.

* * *

Shawn had been running for a while when it suddenly dawned on him that he had no idea where he was going. Slowly down to a walk, he looked around and noticed that it was well after dark and he was in a quiet neighborhood. "What am I doing here?" Not knowing what else to do, Shawn was about to resume running when he spotted a familiar car. Walking up to the house and peering inside, he confirmed his suspicions. "Why am I at Lassie's house?"

Silently entering, the first thing that Shawn noticed was the dozens of empty beer cans cluttering the floor. "What the?" He surveyed the room quickly before his eyes settled on the figure slouching on the couch, a can of beer in one hand. "Lassie! What happened, dude?"

Carlton snorted as he picked up the remote and pressed a button. Suddenly, a newscast started playing.  _ "There still doesn't seem to be any news on the whereabouts of Psychic Detective Shawn Spencer, who went missing sometime on the 5th. Besides stating that they have their top detectives on the case, the police department still refuses to say anything. Even Mr. Spencer's close family and friends would not comment on the case. In other news, the local high schools held joint car washes today that…." _

Carlton shook his head as he turned the television off. "You sure know how to make a mess of things, Spencer. Only you could disappear without a trace." He tipped back his can and finished it before reaching for a new one.

"Lassie, you know this isn't my fault! At least, I don't think so." Shawn sighed as he collapsed on the couch next to Carlton.

Carlton groaned as he set the new can down and grabbed his head. "Great! Now I'm hearing his voice; as if this week couldn't get any worse."

Shawn sat up and stared at Carlton. "Lassie, you can hear me?!"

"Isn't that what I just said? God, why is this hallucination so thick? I must have had more to drink than I thought."

"No, Lassie. It's really me! It's Spencer! I mean Shawn." Shawn reached out on instinct for Carlton's arm, only for both of them to jerk back when he actually made contact. "Whoa. Lassie, did you feel that?"

Carlton jumped off the couch and slowly walked backwards. "No, I didn't feel a thing. Not a damn thing!"

"Your reaction seems to prove otherwise." Shawn said as he stood up and followed Carlton. "Dude, why are you the only one who can hear and feel me? Hey, Can you see me too?" Shawn waved his hand in front of Carlton's wide eyes but did not get the reaction he wanted. "I guess not."

Carlton tripped on a can, causing both him and Shawn to fall on the ground. "Gah! Get off of me!" Carlton squirmed while Shawn tried to regain his balance.

"Lassie, just hang on." Shawn said as he tried to push himself upright.

Carlton froze when a certain body part brushed up against his leg, causing his eyes to grow wide. "Are you hard? How the hell can you be hard when you're not even here?!"

Shawn blushed as he stood and put a good deal of distance between them. "Dude, I plead the first!"

"You mean the fifth? The first is freedom of speech," Carlton growled as he got up. "If anything, you need to use the first less often."

"Lassie, I so did not ask for a history lesson!"

"Good, because I am too freaked out right now to give you one! I'm going to bed and hope that this was all just an alcohol-induced hallucination." He quickly made it to his bedroom.

"But Lassie!" Shawn whined as he followed. "What if it isn't and I really need your help?!"

"Then go talk to your father. I'm going to sleep now." Carlton quickly slammed the door.

"But he can't hear me! Nobody but you can hear me!" Shawn frowned as he heard a deadbolt slide into place. "He has a lock on his bedroom door?" He tried turning the handle but it would not budge. "And apparently I can't open doors with deadlocks."

Shawn sighed as he went back to the couch and sat down. "I guess I'll just have to wait until morning."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, quick Author's Notes:
> 
> Just to clarify, Shawn appears to be hard, even though he's not actually there... there isn't an explanation for it. I just thought it would be a funny way to freak Lassie out even more, plus it gave me an excuse to add those lines about the 1st/5th amendments. If anything, I think I just confused people even more. I know I've been confused enough while writing this whole thing...


	4. Chapter 4

_ CHAPTER 4 _

_ Shawn drove his motorcycle as fast as he could away from Santa Barbara. The city he just passed through was eerily quiet, which told him it was well after midnight. Seeing no cars for miles, he closed his eyes briefly while he took a deep breath. As he opened them, he saw a baby deer standing in the middle of the road, and he was heading straight toward it. He tried to slow down and move around it, but the road was wet after the storm earlier in the day. His tires skidded and, before he knew it, he was off the road, bumping into trees. _

_ By the time his body hit the ground, with several cuts, bruises, and a broken bone or two, his motorcycle was a mangled mess 15 feet behind him up the hill. Not that Shawn noticed, since his helmet had cracked in half and he received a nasty head bump from a couple of trees. Quickly losing consciousness, he whispered one name, "Lassie." _

Shawn awoke with a start and almost fell off the couch. "Lassie!" Shawn breathed deeply as he tried to orient himself. After a moment, he realized that he was still at Carlton's house and that it was nearing noon. Closing his eyes, Shawn tried to recall the images he had just seen, but could not. "Figures that my eidetic memory fails me when it's most needed."

As the events of the previous night returned to him, Shawn grinned. "At least I can make Lassie look like a complete lunatic."

* * *

The station seemed to be just as miserable as the day before. Carefully avoiding bumping into anything, Shawn made his way over to Carlton's desk. Carlton was hunched over a report, ignoring the world around him. Seeing the perfect opportunity, Shawn bounded over and said excitedly in his ear, "Hey Lassie!"

Shawn deflated slightly when the only thing that Carlton did was swat a hand near his ear. Staring upwards, Shawn exclaimed, "Seriously?! Can't I catch a break or something?!"

Carlton swatted his ear again and stared around him with confusion. Shawn pondered this new development. "So, he notices something, just doesn't know what. I wonder…" Shawn reached out a hand and tapped Carlton's left shoulder while Carlton was looking to his right. Carlton jumped out of his chair and started reaching for his gun, stopping when he noticed there was no one there. Shawn smiled as Carlton nervously ran his fingers through his hair.

Carlton jumped again when Juliet tapped him on the shoulder, "Carlton, are you okay?"

He looked around nervously before nodding, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Because you're very jumpy."

"I said that I'm fine, O'Hara!" Carlton snapped. When Juliet looked at him shocked, he took a deep breath before saying, "I'm sorry, I just had a really bad night. I'll be fine."

Still not convinced, Juliet said, "Well, if you ever need to talk, you know where to find me."

"Yeah, okay. Thanks, O'Hara."

"No problem, partner."

When she continued to just look at him with concern, Carlton asked, "Anything else?"

"Yeah, um. I was about to take my lunch break. I'm meeting Gus at the taco shack down the street, and I was wondering if you wanted to join us?"

Carlton looked carefully around the precinct before replying, "No, I think that I'll just grab something from the vending machines."

"Are you sure? I can always bring you back something."

"No, I'm fine!" Carlton snapped as he walked off.

Juliet watched him walk off. "No, you're not Carlton," She whispered, not realizing that Shawn could hear every word. "You haven't been fine for over a week." Checking her watch, Juliet quickly grabbed her purse and left the station.

Staring at Carlton's empty desk, Shawn said, "So, something is bothering Lassie, and it most likely has to do with me." Sighing, he ran off to try to find him.

* * *

It only took Shawn about 5 minutes to catch up with Carlton at the station's gun range. Shawn leaned against the wall as he watched Carlton fire round after round into the helpless paper target. When he paused to reload his weapon, Shawn shouted, "So, how's it going Lassie?!"

Carlton quickly spun and aimed his empty gun in the direction of Shawn's voice. Shawn frowned as he noticed the wide, puffy eyes and heavy breathing. Not seeing or hearing anything else, Carlton cautiously turned back to finish reloading. Taking one more look around, he let loose on the target again, continuing to squeeze the trigger even when there were no more bullets.

"Whoa, Lassie. You're gonna jam it if you keep doing that!" Shawn quickly moved forward and lowered Carlton's arm.

Carlton jerked at the contact and aimed his weapon to the empty space in front of him. Shawn stepped back when the gun almost hit him. "Okay, I get it! No contact!"

Carlton shook his head and whispered, "This is not happening."

"What's not happening?" A new voice asked.

Carlton quickly turned his gun towards the new voice, only to squeak out, "Chief!"

Chief Karen Vick scowled, "Detective! Lower your weapon!"

Carlton quickly placed it on the counter behind him as he said, "I'm sorry, Chief. I don't know what's wrong with me."

Shawn smirked as he sang loudly, "I have a good idea!"

Carlton's head snapped towards Shawn and he reached for his gun.

"Detective!" Karen snapped. Carlton looked back at her and swallowed hard as she examined him. "What's wrong?"

Carlton shook his head as he rambled, "I, I don't know, Chief. I have just been on edge all day. I just, I can't explain it."

Karen slowly walked forward and touched his arm, ignoring his slight flinch. "Carlton, what's wrong? You have been acting out of character since Juliet reported that Shawn was missing. And then today, I don't even know what to say."

Carlton sighed, "I'm sorry, Chief. I guess I'm just stressed."

Karen nodded as she stepped back, "Then you should take the day off."

"No, Chief, I'm fine!" Carlton started to protest as Karen shook her head.

"No, you're not. Go home, sleep, and relax. I suggest that you talk to someone." She put up a hand when Carlton tried to talk. "I'm not saying a shrink, because I know you would never go. But find someone that you can confide in and figure this out. Go to a priest if you have to. I want you to take tomorrow off as well. I'll see you Thursday."

With that, Karen turned and left, leaving Carlton alone, except for Shawn of course. Sighing, Carlton packed up his gun and left, not even bothering to stop at his desk for his coat. Not sure what else to do, Shawn followed him.


	5. Chapter 5

_ CHAPTER 5 _

Carlton stormed into his house, straight into the kitchen, and pulled out a full bottle of scotch, drowning a forth of it in one go. Putting the bottle down, he leaned on the counter and whispered, "Last night did not happen; it was all just an alcohol-induced dream."

Shawn scoffed as he leaned against the doorway. "I beg to differ."

Carlton whipped around quickly while pulling out his gun. "Who's there? I have a gun and I'm not afraid to use it!"

Shawn shook his head as he walked within five feet of the detective. "Like that's supposed to scare me. You haven't even reloaded it after visiting the gun range."

The gun moved so that it was directly over Shawn's heart. "I don't know what the hell kind of game you're playing, Spencer, but this is so not funny! Everyone is worried sick about you, and all you want to do is annoy the hell out of me?!"

"Lassie! Don't you know me by now? I live to do that! The annoying the hell out of you part; not making people worry about me."

"Then why won't you show yourself?"

"I would if I could, Lassie, but I don't know how! You seem to be the only one that can hear or feel me."

"Why?"

Shawn shrugged as he pushed the gun down, this time Carlton did not resist. "I don't know. All I know is that something is wrong, and I guess you're the only one who can help me."

After a minute of silence, Carlton sighed as he put the gun down and rubbed his face. "And how the hell am I supposed to do that?"

"I don't know; you're the head detective. What do you think we should do?"

"Okay, um. Why, why don't you tell me what happened?"

Shawn laughed as he walked away and into the living room. "You probably know more than I do."

"What the hell does that mean?" Carlton growled as he followed.

"It means that I don't remember anything! I remember heading into the station on Tuesday, and then nothing until I woke up in the Psych office yesterday."

"Okay, then let's try and retrace your steps." Carlton picked up his notebook and sat on the couch. "I can't believe I'm doing this," he mumbled.

"Doing what? Interviewing someone you can't see, or humoring something that might just be your imagination?" Shawn asked as he sat on the other end of the couch.

"Both," Carlton said as he half turned to where Shawn's voice was coming from. "You said that you remembered part of Tuesday? Tell me about it."

Shawn sighed as he slouched down into the cushions. "This isn't going to work! I've been over it a million times in my head, and haven't gotten any farther except experiencing random flashbacks that I can't even explain."

"Spencer, just humor me, okay?"

"Fine! I woke up, took a shower, and went out to breakfast."

"Where and around what time?"

"I don't know. It was around 7, 7:30 at the Waffle House."

"Wait." Carlton looked skeptically towards Shawn. "Are you telling me that you were up before the sun, without anyone having to drag your ass out of bed?"

"Yeah. Just between the two of us, I only need about 6 hours of sleep a night and hate sleeping past 8am."

Carlton scoffed as he turned back to his notebook, "Okay, then what happened."

"Well, I spent a few hours at the Psych office, waiting to see if a new client would show up. I played on my Xbox, reorganized Gus' desk, and chopped up a pineapple. I got bored, so I got some jerk chicken for lunch before heading to the station. And then, nothing."

Carlton looked down guiltily before asking, "You don't remember what happened at the station?"

Shawn looked at Carlton suspiciously. "No, why? Do you know what happened?"

"It wasn't a big deal, so I, I don't know why…"

"Carlton." Shawn said simply as Carlton started to get nervous.

Carlton stilled at his name. It was a few seconds before he sighed and said, "I may have yelled at you."

"So? You always yell at me."

Carlton shook his head as he stood up and started pacing. "No, I mean I really yelled at you. I was very stressed that day. I had my mother and the chief on my back, and of course that stupid celebrity who took a liking to me and wanted me to be her personal bodyguard while she was in town. I know that it was not your fault, but you were the straw that broke the camel's back, so I snapped at you! I told you to get the hell out of my life and that I never wanted to see you again. I didn't even realize until a few hours later how wrong I was to yell at you like that. I remember the look on your face when you tried to get me to take it back. Then when Juliet reported that no one had seen you in a few days, I knew that it was entirely my fault…."

Shawn sat stunned as visions of that confrontation popped in head. He remembered the tone Carlton used and the death glare sent his way. He also remembered Juliet had tried to comfort him, only he blew her off and … "I went to my dad's," he whispered.

Carlton stopped his rant and looked in the general direction of Shawn's voice. "What?"

"I, I went to my dad's later that day and he yelled at me too." Shawn felt tears trying to fall but he refused to give into that impulse. "I decided that I needed to get away for a few days, to clear my head and what not."

"So you did leave." Carlton said as he collapsed on the couch. "I drove you away. It's all my fault."

Shawn shook his head as he reached out a hand and touched Carlton's arm. "But I meant to come back by the weekend, before Gus got back, because he would have killed me if I ran off without telling him again."

"But you didn't come back!" Carlton spat angrily. "We tried calling your phone, but it always went straight to voicemail. We checked your credit cards and put a BOLO out on your bike, but nothing came up!"

Shawn was about to respond when something odd happened: The room faded out for a second before coming back a little bit darker and emptier. "Whoa, what was that?" Shawn questioned softly, only to hear someone come in from the other room.

"Spencer? Is that you?" Carlton asked as he stopped in the doorway.

"Yeah, of course it's me. Who else would it be?"

Carlton slowly came around the couch and lightly touched Shawn's chest. "You disappeared for a few hours. We were in the middle of a discussion and you just left."

"As I recall, you were yelling at me about things that were beyond my control."

"Spencer…" Carlton growled only Shawn ignored him and continued.

"Anyways, if you would like to know, everything just seemed to have faded out for a minute and I felt like I was paralyzed. I couldn't move at all."

"Spencer, what are you…" Carlton started again, only for Shawn to cut him off with a pain-filled scream. "Spencer! What's wrong?!"

Shawn could only wither and scream as what felt like something very sharp was piercing his side. He fell to the floor as he held both hands to his side. He was vaguely aware of Carlton calling his name. Once the piercing sensation stopped, Shawn continued to gasp in pain. He felt Carlton hesitantly pat his arm.

Grabbing Carlton's hand tightly, Shawn stared into his eyes, wishing that Carlton could see the fear and desperation on his face, if only for a second. "Lassie. You, you have to find me. B-before it's too late." Shawn thought he saw a flash of surprise on Carlton's face before the pain overwhelmed him, and everything went black.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we're going to back up a little bit and switch to Lassie's perspective. There's strong language ahead. You've been warned!

_ CHAPTER 6 _

"We tried calling your phone, but it always went straight to voicemail. We checked your credit cards and put a BOLO out on your bike, but nothing came up!"

When Shawn did not defend himself, Carlton at first thought that Shawn was giving him the silent treatment, so he continued, "We checked all the hospitals in the state, but no one fitting your description turned up! What else am I supposed to do?"

When he was met with silence again, he got the feeling that he was alone. "Spencer?" Reaching a hand out to where Shawn's voice had come from before, Carlton felt nothing but air. Sighing, he leaned back into the couch and let all of his anger dissipate. "Maybe I am just hallucinating."

He looked around the room for a moment before his eyes landed on the notepad. He picked it up and looked at what little he was able to get out of Shawn. "There's nothing useful!" Carlton spat as he threw the notepad back on the table. Deciding that he should probably eat some lunch before it got too late, he headed into the kitchen.

Halfway through his meal of leftover takeout, he remembered something that Shawn had said, "I went to my dad's." Shaking his head, Carlton reached for the scotch bottle. "I'm gonna need this if I'm even going to attempt explaining things to Henry."

* * *

  
  


After he finished eating, Carlton stared at his phone for a good 10 minutes before he finally mustered up the courage to dial. A breathless voice answered after the third ring.  _ "Yeah?" _

Taking a deep breath, Carlton started, "Mr. Spencer? This is Detective Lassiter."

_ "Carlton? Why are you calling? Has something turned up about Shawn?" _

Hearing the poorly disguised worry, Carlton felt guilty about not telling him everything. Then again, he did not want to be locked up in a psych ward, especially if it meant not being able to find Shawn. "Not really. I just have some questions. About the last time you saw him?"

Henry sighed,  _ "Look, I already told Gus, Karen, and Detective O'Hara that Shawn gave me no indication about where he was going. I didn't even know that he was gone until Wednesday night when O'Hara called looking for him." _

"I understand, but can you tell me everything anyways? Something might help us figure out what happened." Carlton rubbed his forehead as he felt a headache coming, no doubt caused by having to deal with Spencers for long periods of time. The alcohol probably was not helping all that much either.

There was a few seconds of silence before Henry finally responded.  _ "Okay. He came over around five; I don't know why since I told him the night before that I would not be home for dinner. The washer had broken down not even a half hour before, and I was in a hurry, trying to figure out the problem. Basically, he caught me at a bad time. So, before he could try to distract me for whatever reason, I told him that I did not have time for him. And unless he wanted to help mop, he should leave. I thought I saw a hint of disappointment on his face before he nodded and left. I felt uneasy, so once I moved some stuff out of the way so it wouldn't get soaked, I looked out the window and saw Shawn staring unseeingly at the house. I was about to call him back inside when I heard thunder. Shawn must have heard it too since he snapped out of his trance and left. That was the last time I saw him." _

Carlton nodded as he wrote down what he was told. "And do you have any idea where he might have gone?"

_ "No, but if it helps, Shawn doesn't like riding in storms. So he probably waited until it cleared up a little before leaving." _

"Yeah, that helps a bit. I stayed at the station until the storm passed, which was about 10, so we can say Shawn left between 9 and 11. Thanks Henry."

_ "Carlton." _ Henry sighed before continuing.  _ "Look, I know Shawn and I don't get along very well; but he's my son and I care about him. As soon as you find him, I want you to call me. Even before you call the chief or an ambulance, call me. Got it?" _

"Yes sir." Carlton responded politely.

_ "Good luck." _ Henry said before hanging up.

Taking a deep breath, Carlton put his head on the table. "What the hell am I supposed to do now?"

* * *

  
  


A couple of hours later, Carlton woke up with a start. He had not even realized that he had fallen asleep in the kitchen, but he guessed that is what happens from lack of sleep combined with large amounts of alcohol.

Figuring that the pounding in his head was what woke him up, Carlton stood to get some water and painkillers, when he thought he heard something from the other room. Listening, he heard a voice, but it was too soft to make out the words.

Going towards the living room, Carlton stopped in the doorway when he did not see anybody. "Spencer? Is that you?" he called.

"Yeah, of course it's me. Who else would it be?" Shawn's voice responded from the couch.

Carlton slowly came around the couch and lightly touched where he assumed Shawn was. "You disappeared for a few hours. We were in the middle of a discussion and you just left."

"As I recall, you were yelling at me about things that were beyond my control."

"Spencer…" Carlton growled only for Shawn to continue.

"Anyways, if you would like to know, everything just seemed to have faded out for a minute and I felt like I was paralyzed. I couldn't move at all."

"Spencer, what are you…" Carlton started again only for Shawn to cut him off with a pain-filled scream. "Spencer! What's wrong?!"

Carlton stood transfixed as Shawn kept screaming from his place on the couch. "Spencer? Spencer, what's going on?" The screaming seemed to move as something bumped into the coffee table, knocking a few knick-knacks over. "Shawn! Answer me, damn it!"

Eventually the screaming stopped, only to be replaced by gasping. Carlton hesitantly knelt down and placed his hands where he assumed Shawn's arm was in order to offer some comfort as he tried to figure out what to do.

Something that felt like a hand grabbed one of Carlton's tightly, and he could only stare at the carpet as he heard a breathless, pleading voice say, "Lassie. You, you have to find me. B-before it's too late."

For a split second, Shawn's body came into view, shocking Carlton before it disappeared as well as the pressure around his hands, causing Carlton to stumble forward into the carpet. Not that he noticed much, since he was still trying to comprehend what he just saw.

Shawn's face was all bloodied and scratched, with a huge bump on his forehead. His clothes were a tattered mess, blood and dirt everywhere. He could see wounds all over Shawn's body, including a rather fresh one on Shawn's side that Shawn was holding, causing his hands to be soaked in blood. The thing that really got to Carlton was the look of fear, desperation, and panic on Shawn's face. Shawn was scared to death, not knowing what the hell was happening to him.

Looking down, Carlton noticed that there was blood on his hands. Shawn's blood. Without thinking, he ran towards the bathroom and vomited. Once the episode was over, he shakily sat back and stared at his hands. Only, there was not any blood. Looking at the toilet, there were not any bloody handprints from where he held himself up. Shaking his head, Carlton stood and rinsed out his mouth.

Going back into the kitchen, Carlton grabbed the near-empty scotch bottle and drained it before throwing it against the far wall. "DAMN IT!" He yelled as he grabbed some plates to throw. "WHAT THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSE TO DO?! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE THE HELL TO BEGIN! I ALREADY FEEL THE GUILT FROM DRIVING HIM AWAY, SO LET'S JUST PILE ON MORE!"

Once he was out of plates, he started on the mugs, only to pause when he grabbed a green one. Shawn had given him the Psych mug as a gag gift a couple of months ago for Christmas.  _ "So that you'll always think of me when you're drinking coffee." _ He was going to throw it away that day, but stopped when he saw the inscription on the back.  _ "To Lassie, the best man a dog could ever ask for." _ Carlton always wanted to ask Shawn what that meant, but he never knew how to bring it up.

Choking back a sob at the thought of never having to deal with Shawn's craziness again, Carlton slid down to the floor and stared at the mug. "What do you want me to do, Shawn?! I have nothing except an approximate departure time. I don't even know what direction you went. Why do you always have to make my life so difficult?"

Not being able to handle the stress anymore, Carlton broke down and cried, cradling the mug to his chest, all the while wishing that this was just some horrible nightmare, and that Shawn would show up at the station tomorrow as if nothing had happened.


	7. Chapter 7

_ CHAPTER 7 _

Juliet's watch beeped at 6 o'clock, telling her that it was time to head home. But she was too busy staring at Carlton's empty desk to notice.

When she came back from lunch earlier, Carlton was not at his desk. She did not think anything about it at first; figuring that he was spending his lunch hour at the station gun range, as he tended to do a few times a month, and had just lost track of the time. After a half hour and still no sign of him, Juliet started to get a little worried. She tried calling his cell phone, but he never picked up. Getting nervous, she checked the gun range before heading for the chief's office.

Karen waved her in immediately and asked, "What can I do for you O'Hara?" Juliet was a bit hesitant, not knowing how to bring it up. "Well? I haven't got all day, and you really need to get back to work, considering."

Juliet frowned, "Considering what?"

"Considering that your caseload has gotten a bit bigger."

Feeling like the Chief was holding back, Juliet just came out and asked, "Chief, I was wondering, do you know where Carlton is?"

Karen sighed as she leaned back in her chair. "I sent him home."

"Why? What's wrong?" Carlton never left work early, and for the life of her, Juliet could not think of any reason for the Chief to send him home, unless…. "Does this have something to do with how he was acting this morning?"

Karen raised an eyebrow, "What exactly happened this morning?"

"I don't know. He was just very jumpy and agitated. When I tried to talk to him, he blew me off."

"Yes, well, I sent him home and told him that he needed to figure out what was bothering him and fast. He should be back to work on Thursday."

"Thursday? You expect Carlton to stay away from the station for almost two whole days?"

"At the very least. We don't want him accidentally shooting someone because he is jumpy. Now if that's all, O'Hara, I've got a lot of work to do, as do you."

Juliet had left silently and spent the rest of the day with her mind half on her work and half on her partner.

Her desk phone rang and interrupted her musings. Sighing, she picked it up quickly, "O'Hara."

One of the desk sergeants responded,  _ "Excuse me, detective, but there's a lady on the line who wants to speak with someone who knows Detective Lassiter." _

"Did she say why?"

_ "Only that it was important that she talks to someone immediately." _

Figuring that it was someone wanting to complain about Carlton, Juliet sighed, "Put them through. Thanks, John."

_ "No problem." _

Hearing the beep that signaled the call had been transferred, Juliet said in her cherry voice, "Hello, this is Detective O'Hara. How may I help you?"

_ "Yes, hello dearie. My name is Sherry Singleton and I'm calling about my neighbor, Detective Lassiter." _

Grabbing a notepad, Juliet asked, "And what seems to be the problem, ma'am?"

_ "First off, how well do you know the detective?" _

"Lassiter is my partner, so I would say pretty well."

_ "Oh good. Well, I was very concerned when he came home in the middle of the afternoon, it is very unlike him, you know, and he seemed to be quite upset. I saw him go straight into the kitchen and drink something that looked an awful lot like alcohol, before he suddenly pulled his gun. He eventually put the gun down and then disappeared into the living room. I live right next door and have a very good view of his driveway and one side of his house. But I'm also disabled and housebound, so it makes it very hard to move from one window to the next." _

"I understand, ma'am." Juliet replied as she hoped to hurry the story along.

_ "Not even ten minutes later, he returned to the kitchen and made himself some lunch. I got a phone call from one of my children at that point, and had to turn away from the window. When I was able to look again, he was fast asleep on the kitchen table, the same bottle of alcohol by his head. Figuring that he had calmed down, I went back to my knitting. I ended up falling asleep as well, and when I woke up ten minutes ago, I saw him throwing dishes across the room and heard him yelling at the top of his lungs. That's when I decided that someone needed to intervene and called you." _

Juliet sat stun for a minute. She now knew for sure that something was bothering Carlton and that he was not handling it well. "Do you know what he's doing right now?"

_ "The noises have stopped, but I can't see very well since his lights are off. It kind of looks like he is sitting on the ground. Oh dear, I do hope he hasn't hurt himself." _

Juliet shot out of her chair at that. "Thank you very much Ms Singleton for calling. I'll be right over to check on him."

_ "Oh, thank you, dearie. I would check on him myself, but I cannot leave my house without assistance. Please take care of him." _

"I will. Goodbye, ma'am."

_ "Good night, dear." _

Juliet hung up and quickly grabbed her coat and purse, muttering, "Oh Carlton, I hope you haven't done anything stupid."

* * *

Six minutes later, after possibly breaking a few traffic laws, Juliet arrived at Carlton's house and quickly made it up to his door. The lights were off and she heard no noises coming from inside. Taking a deep breath, she knocked. Not getting any response, she tried again as she got out the spare key he had given her. He told her it was for emergencies only, and right now, it seemed like an emergency.

Opening the door, Juliet slowly made her way inside, keeping the lights off so not to startle him too much. "Carlton? It's Juliet. Are you home?"

Still getting no response, she went towards the kitchen. As she entered she heard a crunch and looked down. She found the floor covered with broken glass and plates. Turning on the lights, Juliet scanned the room before spying the figure sitting in front of the fridge. Carlton was staring unseeingly at the wall and clutching something green to his chest.

Taking a step closer, she softly called out, "Carlton?"

He blinked before turning his head towards her. Juliet gasped as she saw the tears silently streaking down his face. "O'Hara? Wha-what yous doing here?"

"I came to check on my partner." She said simply as she got closer and knelt next to him. "What happened, Carlton?" She noticed that the thing in his hands was a green mug that said Psych. "Does it have something to do with Shawn?"

Carlton snorted as he looked at the mug. "You could s-say that. I just, I just don't know what else to do. There's nuttin to go on. Nada. And he ssssure as hell ain't helping."

Hearing his slurring getting worse, Juliet decided to leave the rest of the questioning until he was sober, even though he would be less inclined to answer then. "Come on, Carlton, it's time for you to go to bed."

He chuckled at her, "How am I sus-suppose to go to bed when Shawn is counting on me to find him, hmmm?"

"Well, you definitely aren't any help to him in your current condition. Why don't you go to bed and sleep it off so that you can start fresh tomorrow, okay?"

Carlton seemed to consider her words for a few seconds before nodding. "Okie dokie. Can you help me?"

Sighing, Juliet stood and helped Carlton up, keeping a hand on his arm as he swayed. "Do you think you can make it to your bed?"

Carlton nodded as he started walking unsteadily towards the bedroom, not caring that he was stepping on glass. Once there, he collapsed face-first onto the bed, the mug still clutched in his hand. When he made no attempt to move, Juliet took off his shoes before pulling a spare blanket over him. Grabbing a wastebasket and a glass of water, she put them by his bed before turning off the lights and whispered, "Goodnight, Carlton. I hope you feel better in the morning."

Back in the kitchen, Juliet cleaned up the mess on the floor and dumped all of the alcohol. She wrote a quick note that he should call her in the morning, before she locked up and left. She waved to the neighbor as she got into her car and drove off.


	8. Chapter 8

_ CHAPTER 8 _

After leaving Carlton's house, Juliet swung by the Psych office, not at all surprised to find the lights on and Gus' car parked outside. She grabbed the pizza as she got out of the car and made her way inside. She found Gus sitting at his desk, one hand holding his head up while the other furiously typed on his laptop.

Before she could say anything, Gus slammed his fist on the desk and exclaimed, "Come on! Just let me in!"

"Are you alright?"

Gus startled and looked around the office with wide eyes. When he noticed Juliet, he sighed, "I'm fine. Just trying to log into Shawn's email, see if he contacted anyone about him visiting for the week or something. But I can't seem to guess his email password."

"Do you want me to give it a shot?"

"Sure. I've been staring at this screen for the last 30 minutes. I could really use a fresh set of eyes."

Juliet smiled as she put the pizza down on a table. Grabbing Shawn's chair, she sat next to Gus and asked "Is there a password hint?"

"Yeah, but in typical Shawn fashion, it doesn't make any sense."

"What does it say?"

"Sternum jeans vi. But I have no idea what it means!"

She sighed and stared at the screen. "Do you know what sternum means?"

Gus shrugged. "It's the breastbone; or at least that general area."

"Why would Shawn pick that?"

"I don't know. I may have known him our entire lives, but that doesn't mean that I know what goes on inside that head of his."

Juliet stared unseeingly at the screen, thinking about how if anyone else was missing, Shawn would have some idea of where they were or what happened to them by now. Not to mention how Shawn's antics would cheer everyone up. But everything had seemed wrong since he disappeared. The station had felt too depressing all week; there had not been a single joke cracked or a spark of laughter heard. Everyone was affected, but no one as much as Carlton. At times, he acted like he did not give a crap, almost happy Shawn was not around to disrupt things. Sometimes he looked more stressed than usual and glared at everyone and everything. But then, what was with today? He seemed to have snapped under the pressure. But what pressure? He was never close to Shawn. He even yelled at Shawn the last time they saw him.

She sat up at that. Was he feeling guilty? Did he think that he was the one to push Shawn away? It would explain some things. Like the look on Shawn's face had been one of complete devastation and...heartbreak. OMG! Shawn is in love with Carlton and probably left because of it!

She looked at Gus with surprise. "Gus, I, I think Shawn is in love with Carlton!"

Gus looked intrigued, "How did you figure that out?"

"Well, when I really think about it, the signs are all there." She frowned at him. "Wait, you don't seem at all surprised about Shawn being in love with Carlton."

Gus shrugged and looked down slightly. "I was the one to point it out to Shawn. For a psychic, he can be really thick-headed sometimes. Especially when it comes to matters of the heart."

"Wow." She laughed as she glanced at a picture of Gus and Shawn on the desk. She frowned, "That would explain the look on his face when Carlton snapped at him last week."

"Lassiter snapped at him? Like, seriously snapped at him?"

"Yeah. Carlton was under a lot of stress, and I guess Shawn just tipped the scales a little too much."

"I'm surprised that he hadn't done it before. If I didn't know any better, I would think that Lassiter actually liked it when Shawn bothered him."

"I don't think so. Although, when you think about it, they are perfect for each other. Carlton could give Shawn some structure and discipline, while Shawn would make Carlton a bit more soft and relaxed." Gus snorted at that. "What?"

Gus shook his head and said, "Nothing. You just might want to rephrase that."

Juliet ran over what she said in head, "What are you…oh!" She smacked him in the arm. "You are so immature!"

"Ow! I'm sorry, but that's what I get for having a best friend with the maturity level of a 12 year old."

She scoffed and looked back at the screen. Suddenly, something sparked in her memory. "Hang on. Do you remember that time we went undercover at the speed dating competition?"

"Yeah. My date ended up crying into my shirt. I had to borrow a shirt from Henry." Gus grumbled, seeming really pissed off even two years later

"O-kay... Remember when Carlton showed up in his suit and tie? And Shawn made him not only take off his tie but also unbuttoned the top of his shirt, saying that he needed to show off his sternum bush?"

"Yeah. So you think that Shawn is referring to Lassiter then?"

"Of course! What else could it be?"

"Alright." Gus nodded, seeming a bit more optimistic as he looked back at the screen. "Jeans could be in reference to either the fabric or style of pants."

"But what do you think Shawn would mean?"

"I don't know, maybe the pants? Hey, doesn't Shawn sometimes call him Lassiepants?"

"Good. Then what does vi mean? Could it be another language?"

"Shawn only knows Spanish, and very poorly I might add if you remember that soap opera case."

Juliet giggled. "Oh yeah, I remember that. Well, vi is the Spanish word for I saw."

"'Lassiepants I saw'? That does sound like Shawn."

"But if that's the case, why didn't he just have 'vi pantalones de esternón' as his hint? But I guess that would be too much to decipher and… What?" Juliet stopped at the dumbfounded look on Gus' face.

"You know Spanish?"

"Of course. It was a requirement when I was with the Miami PD. Why?"

"Nothing, it's just something I never knew about you." Gus looked down and scratched at a stain on the desk.

They sat in silence for a few seconds until Juliet said, "Wait, isn't VI the roman numerals for 6?"

"Okay, let's try that." Gus leaned over enthusiastically and started typing, "Lassiepants6. Nope, nothing." He groaned.

"What?! But that's the only thing that makes sense!"

"I told you, Shawn doesn't always make sense. Maybe we should just give up."

Juliet crossed her arms and glared at the screen before another thought entered her head. "Hang on; didn't you guys first work for the department in 2006?"

"I think so. Maybe it's 06 then. Lassiepants06. Got it!" Gus exclaimed as he opened the inbox. "Okay. Spam, spam, bank statement, dolphins international, spam, old girlfriend, Jamba Juice coupons. There's nothing here!"

"It was worth a shot."

Gus closed the laptop and sighed; his sigh quickly turned into a sniff. "Did you bring pizza?"

"Yeah. I had to stop by Carlton's house and didn't feel like going home yet. I figured you would appreciate the company." She got up and brought the pizza over to the sitting area in front of the TV.

"Thanks. Is that sausage and barbecue I smell?" Gus asked as he went to get some napkins and plates.

"Yep, it also has a whole bunch of seasonal veggies. It was today's special, so I figured we could try something new."

"Cool. Did you want to watch something? We've got movies, TV shows, and I think baseball games recorded."

"Whatever you want." Juliet replied before taking a slice from the box.


	9. Chapter 9

_CHAPTER 9_

After a half hour of silently watching a movie, Gus asked, "So, why were you at Lassiter's house?"

Juliet sighed and put down her plate. "He's been acting weird, ever since Shawn disappeared."

"Really? I haven't noticed anything different."

"Well, before today, it hasn't been very noticeable to the casual observer, but he has been slightly off."

"What happened today?"

"He was very jumpy and acted completely out of character. So much so that the chief sent him home during lunch, telling him to stay away for at least a day and a half."

"Wow. That is weird."

"I haven't even told you about the phone call." Juliet grimaced as she picked at her napkin.

"What phone call?"

"I was about to leave the station for the night when I got a call from one of his neighbors. She said Carlton had been acting weird all day; pulling his gun, drinking, and yelling at no one. Right before she called, he was screaming and throwing dishes. She was afraid that he might have hurt himself, which is why she called me."

"Oh my god," Gus whispered. "Shawn finally did it. He pushed Lassiter off the deep end, and by not even being here!"

Juliet couldn't help but giggle at Gus' tone. "Sorry." She covered her mouth. Once she calmed down, she continued. "Anyways, when I got there, he was huddled against the fridge, drunk, and had been crying."

"Wow."

"Yeah, I've never seen him like that before." She whispered, sounding close to tears.

"What? Crying or drunk?"

"Neither, both. I mean, I've never seen him so drunk or break down crying before. There have been days when he would come into the station looking a bit hungover or depressed, but he would toughen out his shift without complaint. He's always been this stable, unshakable force; I almost didn't think it was him."

"Huh, but at least we know that he's human. Ow!" Gus winced as Juliet hit him in the arm again.

"It's not funny!" She scolded. "I'm genuinely worried about him!"

"I'm sorry."

After a few seconds of tense silence, Juliet finally nodded. Brushing aside a stray tear, she said, "He was barely making any sense. Saying that Shawn was depending on Carlton to find him, but Shawn wasn't helping." She sighed. "I wish Shawn would contact us some way. Be it a phone call, email, or getting one of his spirit friends to lead us to him."

"I don't, I don't think it works like that," Gus mumbled.

"Well, it should! What's the point of being able to communicate with spirits if they can't help you when you're in trouble?" Juliet yelled before a sob broke through and she started crying in earnest.

"No, don't…Juliet, it's gonna, it's gonna be okay…" Gus stuttered, trying to keep his own tears at bay. "We'll find him, we will. Shawn is probably 5 steps ahead of us. Who knows, he might even show up tomorrow without a scratch; in which case I will kill him for making us worry for nothing."

Juliet hiccupped, "Yeah, you're right." She took some deep breaths and smiled at Gus. "Thanks, Gus. You're a great friend."

Gus wiped away a few of his own tears and nodded, "No problem." Putting his plate down, he said, "I feel like ice cream. Care to join me for a stroll along the boardwalk?"

She smiled. "Sure, but I'm not sure if I should have any ice cream; I had a lot of pizza."

"Come on, if there's one thing you must have learned by now is that with me and Shawn, there is no such thing as too much food."

Juliet giggled again. "Okay."

* * *

An hour later, Juliet and Gus were sitting on a bench on the pier, watching the waves come and go. They had long since finished their ice cream and were nursing smoothies.

Juliet quietly asked, "Gus, where do you think Shawn is?"

Gus sighed and leaned his elbows on his knees. "I don't know. But my gut tells me that he's in trouble."

"Are we ever going to find him?"

Gus was silent for so long that Juliet turned towards him to see tears silently falling. "I sure hope so." Gus whispered. "I don't know what I would do if Shawn never comes home. He's been in my life so long; it's weird to think of life without him. Even when he was on the road, there was always the chance of getting a postcard or random phone call, so it never felt like I was alone. I will never lose hope of him coming home, not until we get news of either way."

"You won't be alone, Gus. I'll always be here." She gently took his hand.

Gus smirked and couldn't help it as he asked, "Detective O'Hara, are you trying to seduce me?"

"And what if I am?"

"Well, for one thing, this is very bad timing."

"I agree."

"And two…" He hesitated.

"Yes?"

Gus smiled as he pushed a strand of hair out of Juliet's face. "I think it's too late at night to be starting something."

"What? Gus, it's barely 9:30!"

"I know, but we both should go to bed early so we can get a fresh start in the morning looking for Shawn."

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Juliet blushed and turned away. "Sorry."

"Hey," Gus called softly, turning her head back towards him. "That wasn't a no, it was a later." He leaned forward and gave her a small peck on the lips.

Juliet smiled and nodded. "Okay, I can live with that."

"Good. Want to meet for coffee in the morning?"

"Sure. What time?"

"Well, I wanted to check a few more gas stations before heading into work. So, maybe 6? At the Starbucks on State street?"

"Okay, it's a date." Juliet bit her lip to keep herself from smiling too big.

"Great." Gus stood up and threw away his empty cup before offering his hand to Juliet. "Can I escort you to your car, My Lady?"

Juliet giggled as she complied. "Yes, you may. I always knew you were the perfect gentleman."

"Please, my parents taught their children good manners beginning at the age of 2."

"So early?"

"Yep. They believed in teaching things correctly the first time."

"Oh, what else did they teach you?" Juliet asked slyly.

Gus ducked his head, glad that she could not see him blush in the dark. "You'll just have to wait and see."

"Okay," Juliet giggled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, first let me say that when I originally started this story, I fully intended not to put Gus and Juliet together because everyone seems to do that when they write a Shassie fic. But I really do like the two of them together and it worked for the chapter/story progression. Plus, I think Gus is a much better fit for Juliet than Shawn...


	10. Chapter 10

_ CHAPTER 10 _

_ When Shawn regained partial consciousness, he was in so much pain that he could barely groan without something hurting. Opting to lay perfectly still, Shawn just listened as the laughter that had originally woken him up got closer. _

_ "Oh man. Check out this bike!" _

_ "Dude, that is so beat up. I feel sorry for whoever was riding this thing when it crashed." _

_ "Yeah. It's such a shame though. It was a nice bike." _

_ "Dude! What do you know about motorcycles?! When have you ever ridden, let alone touched, one before?" _

_ "A guy can dream, can't he?" _

_ "I guess. Hey! There's somebody down there!" _

_ "Do you think it's whoever was riding the bike?" _

_ "No, not at all. I think that some other poor sap just happened to have fallen down the hill near the bike." _

_ "I was just asking a question! You don't have to be so mean about it." _

_ "Whatever. Let's go see if he's still alive." _

_ "Okay." _

_ Shawn listened as the voices got closer, but his hold on consciousness was slipping, so he barely felt it when one of them poked him in the stomach with a stick. _

_ "Hey, dude? Are you okay?" _

_ "Of course he's not okay! If he was, do you really think that he would be lying in the woods?" _

_ "I guess not." _

_ "Let's see who our mystery guest is, shall we?" After a couple of seconds, the guy said, "Shawn Spencer, Psychic Detective from Santa Barbara." _

_ "Santa Barbara? Isn't that near LA? Mike's brother went there once and it was about a 3-hour drive. I wonder what this Shawn guy is doing way out here." _

_ "I don't know, but psychics are definitely not welcomed here. We should teach this devil-worshiper a lesson!" _

_ "Don't you think that he has suffered enough? Why can't we just call the cops or something?" _

_ "Because they'll just bring him to the hospital until he heals up. Who knows what type of curses and black magic he'll bring to our city. No, I think that our best option is to show this psychic who's boss." _

_ "Are you sure? Wouldn't this count as kidnapping?" _

_ "Not when it's done for the greater good; you'll see. Now, go back home and grab your surfboard and some rope, we're gonna need it." _

* * *

Shawn woke up with a start as he tried to remember what he just found out. "Two guys, possibly brothers, in their late teens or early twenties. Most likely from a small town since they've never ridden a motorcycle before. 3 hours away. Moreover, they kidnapped me instead of calling for help. Oh man, just my luck!" Shawn groaned as he reached his arm up to cover his eyes, only to bang his elbow on the coffee table.

"Ow! Right, I fell off the couch last night from some weird pain in my side and totally freaked Lassie out. Speaking of Lassie, where is he?" Getting up, Shawn noticed that the sun was just lighting up the room, which made the time about seven, confirmed by a glance at the clock. Not seeing Carlton in the kitchen, Shawn paused outside of the bedroom door. Grabbing the handle, he was relieved when it opened, only to have his heart sink at the sight that met him.

Carlton was on his side with his knees drawn up and his fingers in his hair. Shawn could tell that he was still asleep, but he was moaning and mumbling. Coming close to the bed, Shawn yelled, "MORNING LASSIE!"

Carlton barely flinched but he did open his eyes. Not seeing anyone, he groaned, "Spencer, get out of my room!"

"That's not a very nice way to greet someone! And I even bring you good news! Well, sort of good news. Good in the sense that I have information for you, but I might be in more trouble than I originally thought." When Carlton didn't respond, Shawn yelled, "LASSIE! DID YOU HEAR ANYTHING THAT I JUST SAID?!"

"What?" Carlton groaned as he slowly sat up. "You haven't said anything yet."

"That's weird," Shawn said softly. "He can only hear me if I yell, but last night he heard me just fine and the night before that, but not at the station. The only difference is…is that he was drinking each time he heard me." Sighing, Shawn took a deep breath before yelling, "LASSIE! YOU NEED TO HAVE A DRINK!"

"Why would I do that? Alcohol is the cause of a hangover, not the solution." He leaned forward and rubbed his head.

"BECAUSE YOU CAN ONLY HEAR ME IF I'M YELLING AND YOU'RE HUNGOVER, OR WHEN YOU'RE DRUNK, AND I REALLY DON'T WANT TO YELL ALL DAY!"

"Really? I wish that was the case all of the time, then I would never get drunk again."

"LASSIE!" Shawn stomped his foot impatiently. "THIS IS SERIOUS! NOW GO DRINK!"

Getting out of bed, Carlton mumbled, "Fine," as he went towards the kitchen, Shawn following. Carlton went straight to one of the cabinets and opened it. He frowned when he did not see any scotch. He tried the next cabinet and it was empty as well. As he checked the fridge, Shawn spotted a folded up note taped to the coffee maker.

"Hey, um, Lassie?" When he didn't get a response, Shawn rolled his eyes before yelling, "LASSIE!"

Carlton turned around and growled, "What the hell happened to my alcohol?!"

"I THINK JULES WAS HERE!"

Frowning, Carlton spotted the note and went to grab it, only to knock into Shawn. Grabbing the counter to steady himself, he growled "Damn it, Spencer! You need to pay more attention since I can't see you!"

"Sor-SORRY!" Shawn yelled as he moved out of the way.

Carlton grabbed the note and read it aloud,  _ "Dear Carlton. I hope that you feel better. In case you were wondering, I got rid of all of your alcohol since it only seemed to have caused you problems. Remember that I'm available to talk. If not, I'll see you at work Thursday. Sincerely, Juliet. PS, We will find him, don't worry." _

Carlton tossed the note toward the trash can, "Great. Her helping seems to have hurt us." Sighing, he headed to his bedroom.

Shawn started after him, "Where are you… WHERE ARE YOU GOING?"

"I have to take a shower so I can buy more alcohol. No self-respecting cashier would sell alcohol to someone who reeks of it so early in the morning."

"You'd be surprised," Shawn whispered as he went over to the couch. Looking back down the hallway, he thought about watching Carlton shower, figuring that there had to be some perks to being invisible. He quickly scratched that idea, remembering how small the bathroom was and how mad Carlton would get if he was caught. Sighing, Shawn closed his eyes and tried to recall anything useful.


	11. Chapter 11

_ CHAPTER 11 _

An hour later, Carlton and Shawn were sitting at Carlton's dining room table. Bottles of beer, Carlton's notepad, and a couple maps of California were stretched out in front of them.

"Okay," Carlton said as he grabbed his notes. "So we know, or at least are assuming, that you left between 9 and 11 o'clock Tuesday night. You probably crashed your motorcycle near a small town approximately 3 hours away which, depending on how fast you were going, could be anywhere from 100-250 miles but we have no idea what direction you went or if you even went in a straight line."

Shawn nodded as he saw flashes of what Carlton said. "It was definitely after midnight when I crashed, so we can put the time of departure closer to 11, but I don't think that really helps us. I usually pick one direction and stick to it whenever I leave, putting as much distance between me and Santa Barbara as possible. I also take the quieter roads, so we're looking at maybe 150-200 miles away."

Carlton shook his head as he threw his pencil down. "This is nuts! There is no way that we're going to figure this out without more information!"

"Wait! What did you just say?"

"I said we need more information."

"No, before that."

"We're not going to figure this out?"

"No! Before that! What did you say as you threw down your pencil?"

"This is nuts? Which it is, and I'm definitely going insane if I'm going to continue to listen to you when you're not even here! Why do I always have the worst luck when it comes to you?! You should have appeared to Guster or your father, either one would be a lot more willing to help you, for I am so close to strangling you right now, it doesn't even matter whether or not you're really here!"

Shawn ignored Carlton's rant as he tried to figure out why that phrase was setting off bells. "Nuts? What do nuts have to do with anything?" He whispered as he paced. "Peanuts? Macadamias? Cashews? Walnuts? Wal-Mart? No, that's just stupid. Um, Hazelnuts? HAZELNUTS!"

"What?" Carlton asked, a bit thrown off by Shawn's exclamation.

"Hazelnuts! I was going to Oregon since I haven't been there since that hazelnut food fight a decade ago, long story; but now we have a general direction!"

"Okay." Carlton pulled the map closer. "Do you have any idea which roads you would have taken?"

Shawn frowned as he looked down. "Um, probably this one or this one."

"Did you just point at them? Because you know I can't see you, right?"

"Oh, right," Shawn smirked slightly. "Um, route 101 or 33."

"Okay. So 150-200 miles away near trees or a forest of some kind gives us… Chesterfield or Amelia."

_ "Grab your surfboard and some rope _ "

"Amelia."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. The one guy mentioned grabbing a surfboard and Amelia is less than 10 miles from the coast."

"Okay, let's go." Carlton quickly got up and started to make his way to the door when Shawn got right in front of him, causing both of them to fall to the floor and onto their sides. "Damn it Spencer! Will you stop doing that?"

"Sorry," Shawn breathed as he stared into Carlton's eyes.

Before he could think it through, Shawn leaned over and kissed Carlton. Carlton tried to pull away, but Shawn kept following until Carlton was at an awkward angle between the floor and wall. Getting his hands between them, Carlton finally pushed Shawn away.

"What the hell was that?!" Carlton spat as he continued to lay there.

Shawn sat up and turned away. Shaking his head, he said, "I think it would be pretty obvious."

"Spencer!" Carlton growled.

"Look, let's just forget it, okay!" Shawn stood up and went towards the door.

"No! We're going to talk about this!" Carlton quickly got up.

"What is there to talk about?!" Shawn yelled as he turned and started pacing "How scared I am?! Because I am so fucking scared! Scared that either we won't get there in time or I'm already dead! Because why the hell would I all of a sudden appear almost a week after I crashed in a ghost-like form if I wasn't already dead or at least close to being so?! And yes! I have feelings for you, Carlton Lassiter! I've had this big old fucking crush on you for years! Ever since I found you drunk at that bar and I decided to help you solve that stupid astronomer case. Maybe even before that. So excuse me for finally making a move before it's too late! It's probably already too late because I'm an idiot who's afraid of admitting his feelings! Not like you've made it any fucking easier." Shawn laughed sadly as he stopped pacing and looked at Carlton. "I mean, shit man, how hard do I have to push before you let me into your life?! For the most part, I just wanted to be your friend, and all you do is push me away."

Carlton stood transfixed as Shawn came into view for another few seconds. He looked even worse than last night: Pale, sweaty, bloody, and beat up. If Shawn was really there, he probably would not be able to stand, let alone walk, without falling over. When he flickered out again, Carlton said cautiously, "I'm sorry, about all of that. But I am trying to fix this. As soon as we find you and get you to a hospital, we can talk this all out. I promise."

Shawn nodded as he brushed a few tears away. "Okay, we should probably get going then."

"Yeah." Carlton checked his pockets to make sure he had his keys, wallet, badge, and service weapon.

When they were almost to the door, Shawn asked, "Shouldn't you let Jules or Chief Vick know where you're going?"

Carlton laughed as he put on his coat, "Are you fucking kidding me?! How the hell do you expect me to explain to them how I got all this information without them having me committed to a psych ward?!"

"You can always say I came to you in a dream and gave you this information."

"They would never believe me." Carlton sighed. "I should let them know, just in case." Walking back into the dining room, he grabbed a piece of paper and wrote Amelia on it, circling it several times. Taking out his phone, he dialed Juliet. She picked up after the second ring.

_ "Hey Carlton! How are you feeling?" _

Groaning, Carlton said in a tired voice, "O'Hara, I've got this massive headache, so can you please tone it down about five notches."

_ "Oh, sorry! Did you get my note?" _

"Yes."

_ "And?" _

"And I guess, if you want to talk, *sigh* we can."

_ "Oh, good! I can be there in 10…" _

"O'Hara, I just woke up. And aren't you at work already?"

_ "Yeah, but I bet the Chief wouldn't mind if I took some time off. Besides, I was out with Gus and we think we found a good lead about what direction Shawn went! Isn't that great?" _

Carlton guiltily played with his keys. "Yeah, it is. Look, I've still got to shower and wake up. How about lunch?"

_ "Okay. Is 11:30 good?" _

"Yeah."

_ "Anywhere in particular you want to meet?" _

"I don't want an audience."

_ "Oh, of course not." _

"Come by my house. The door will be unlocked."

_ "Okay. Bye Carlton." _

"Bye." Hanging up, Carlton headed for the door. "There. Now when she comes by in a few hours, she'll see that I'm not here and then try to find me, especially when she sees the alcohol out."

"Great acting skills, detective. There might be some hope for you yet. Shotgun!" Shawn called as he shot out the door.

Carlton scoffed as he followed, "Like I would let you drive, even if you were here."


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, here we go. We get to find out what happened to Shawn in the next few chapters!

_ CHAPTER 12 _

Carlton noticed that Shawn was oddly quiet on the ride to Amelia. If it was not for the odd feeling Carlton got recently whenever Shawn was nearby, he would have thought that he was alone. Leaving Shawn to his thoughts, Carlton turned on the radio and concentrated on trying to stay awake and alert with all of the alcohol in his system. He ended up stopping a few times for coffee and restroom breaks.

They were about 10 miles away from Amelia when Carlton's phone went off. Seeing that it was Juliet, Carlton put it on speaker so he could keep both hands on the wheel. "Lassiter."

_ "Carlton! Where the hell are you?" _

Rolling his eyes at Shawn's snicker, he replied, "Where do you think I am?"

_ "Carlton, this is not funny! I arrived at your house five minutes ago, assuming that we were going to have a heart to heart, but I found the house completely empty! Not only that, but there are several cases of beer around when I know that I got rid of it all last night. Now you tell me what the hell is going on!" _

Sighing, he simply said, "I'm going after Spencer."

There were a few seconds of silence before Juliet asked,  _ "What?! Did he contact you or something?" _

Shawn snorted, "Something like that."

Sending a glare at the passenger seat, Carlton replied, "Sort of."

_ "Carlton, just tell me where you are so I can help you." _

"O'Hara, I'm fine. It's Spencer that you should be worried about. If you want to join me, then feel free. If not, I'll see you in a few days, hopefully with Spencer."

_ "How do you even know where to look?" _

"I can't explain it right now, but I just know…."

"STOP THE CAR!" Shawn yelled.

Carlton quickly slammed on the brakes, "What the hell?!"

_ "Carlton? What's wrong?" _

"Lassie, my bike's down there!" Shawn yelled as he got out of the car.

Seeing the slight disturbance of branches and grass that one would only see if they were really looking for it, Carlton quickly pulled over and got out, grabbing his phone as he did so. "I have to call you back."

Closing his phone and putting it on silent, Carlton carefully made his way down the hill, taking a path different from the bike. He saw shards of glass from the lights and mirrors littering the path, along with a few bits of torn fabric. Pausing at the bike, he noticed that a fallen tree had stopped its descent down the hill.

Continuing down, he found more broken branches and pieces of the bike. At the bottom of the hill, there was a small brook, maybe a foot across and half a foot deep at points. Right before the brook though, a few footprints disturbed the ground, and there was an indentation about the size of a body with puddles of blood, as well as broken glass from what Carlton assumed was a motorcycle helmet.

He squatted near the footprints, close enough to see yet far enough not to disturb potential evidence. The footprints seemed to be made by tennis shoes, probably men sizes 9 and 11. There were a few discarded cigarettes on the other side of the brook that might not have anything to do with the footprints, but Carlton was not going to discount them yet. The footprints came from the direction of the bike before heading off downstream. There seemed to be quite a few sets of footprints, but Carlton soon realized that they were probably from one of them leaving, coming back, and then leaving again with the other person.

Figuring that he would need some tools, Carlton stood up to head back to his car, only to realize that he had not heard from Shawn since he bolted from the car. Frowning, he called out for Shawn a few times, but did not get any response. Shaking his head, he headed back up the hill as he took out his phone again.

There were three missed calls from Juliet and, before he could call her back, it started ringing again. Sighing, he answered, "O'Hara, listen. I think I just found Spencer's bike. I'm on route 101 heading north, maybe 15 miles past the last town before Amelia. Get CSU out here to check the scene."

_ "Carlton! What is going on?" _ She interrupted.

"I'll leave something on the side of the road to direct you, but it'll be pretty obvious once you get down into the woods. I'll let you know if I find out anything new." He quickly ended the call as his car came into view. Still not sensing or hearing Shawn, Carlton decided to follow the brook on foot. So leaving his car on the side of the road, he made sure that he had his flashlight, pocketknife, handcuffs, service weapon, and back up pistol before heading back down the hill.

* * *

  
  


After following the footprints for over an hour, Carlton was about to give up and wait for backup to send out search and rescue teams, when the footprints suddenly crossed the brook and headed north. Making a small mark on the tree with his pocket knife, he kept going.

* * *

After another mile or so, Carlton found it harder and harder to follow the trail. The ground would not have been very muddy, even after a storm, and did not leave good footprints, but there were other signs that he could make out. Like scraps on the trees made from, Carlton assumed, the surfboard. Twigs snapped on both the trees and ground. And droplets of blood that probably collected on the surfboard before rolling off onto the grass.

* * *

  
  


Around the two and a half hour mark, he finally noticed the trees thinning out and, before long, he saw a small cabin. The grass around it was overgrown, as was the gravel path leading from the dirt road to the cabin. The cabin itself was in disrepair, broken windows boarded up, tiles missing from the roof, and the front steps were even caved in. There was not much cover with it being the middle of the day, so when his phone vibrated, Carlton ducked behind a tree to answer it. "What?" he whispered, keeping an ear out for any noises.

_ "Carlton! I demand an explanation!" _

"O'Hara, this isn't a good time."

_ "Carlton, look. We just arrived at your car a few minutes ago and found Shawn's bike. I told the chief that I had gotten an anonymous tip about Shawn's bike in order to get CSU and backup down here; but since you left your car, she's going to know about it any minute now. I want to find Shawn just as much as you do, but right now, you are just making it harder on yourself. So please, tell me where you are so that we can look together!" _

Carlton sighed and nodded into the phone. "Okay. If you continue down the hill, there is a brook. I followed a set of footprints for approximately three miles before they left the brook in a Northeasterly direction for two, two and a half miles. I'm currently outside of a small, rundown hunting cabin, about to go check it out. It's right off of a dirt road; so if you get a map, you might be able to find it."

There was rustling of paper as Juliet replied, _ "Okay. I'm going to send a few people down the brook while the rest of us try to find a quicker way there. I don't want you to do anything until I get there, got it?" _

"I can't promise you that, O'Hara. I just know that Shawn is in trouble and if I wait for you, he might not make it out alive. I don't know if I can live with myself if that happens." Carlton tried to keep the desperation out of his voice, but knew he failed when there was a few seconds pause before Juliet spoke softly.

_ "Just be careful, Carlton. And call me back as soon as you can." _

Smiling at her protectiveness and knowing that she would make an amazing head detective someday, he replied, "Thanks O'Hara. For everything."

_ "If you mess this up, I swear to god I am going to kick your ass." _

"Yes ma'am." Carlton chuckled as he ended the call. He was just about to check his service weapon, when a pain-filled scream, one that he had heard just the night before, filled the air. Feeling his heart almost stop, Carlton quickly, but quietly, made his way to the front door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I noticed while editing this chapter that the timing didn't exactly match up with how long it would take Juliet to get there, but I tried to fix it as best I could.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for hateful/extremists(?) christianity, attempted exorcism, injury.

_CHAPTER 13_

After he had rushed from Carlton's car and down the hill, Shawn barely had time to take in the sight of his beloved bike in ruins, before a weird pain overtook his body. He did not even have time to call out to Carlton before everything went black.

When he came to consciousness again, he noticed that it was very different this time. For one, his eyes were slow and sluggish to open. He could not feel his arms and legs; not that he could feel them before per se, they just did not want to move now. Moreover, there was also this weird coppery taste in his mouth, almost like…like blood.

Shawn snapped his eyes open. Well, his one eye anyways, since it seemed like his right eye was swollen half shut so he was squinting. His breathing slowly increased as he surveyed his surroundings. He was in a wooden room, probably an old hunting cabin by the looks of the empty shotgun shells gathering dust in one corner, discarded camouflage scraps in another, and empty cans of beer; although the beer cans looked more recent. There was not much light in the room since most of the windows were broken and boarded up; but he could just make out a pair of figures on the other side of the room near the door, sitting on old wooden stools next to a small table.

Noticing that he was awake, one of them stood up and slowly circled the room. "Well, well, well. Looks like our Psych-ic," he spat, "is finally good and ready to join us. Is there anything that we can get ya?"

Trying not to choke on his own blood, Shawn croaked out, "Yeah. A couple glasses of water and a knife to let me go."

The one circling the room chuckled as he said, "You hear that, Dave? He wants us to let him go! But we ain't done purifying ya yet."

Dave chuckled, "Yeah, Joe. We still have a long way to go. Got to get them evil spirits out of him."

Regretting what the answer would be, Shawn asked, "And what exactly have you done?"

"Well, first," Joe replied. "We drugged ya up pretty damn good. Need to confuse the spirits so they don't know what all we're up to. Then we made some precautions so that they don't come after us. You might have noticed the salt circle surrounding ya, and that you're tied up in the form of a pentagram. Then we took turns, splashing you with holy water and salt, trying to get the demons to come out, but we haven't had much luck. So a couple of days ago, we started cutting you and pouring salt into the wound. Boy did we get a response! You started twitching, moaning, and saying nonsense. Something like not being dead yet and that Lassie needed to help you. I don't know what a dog from an old movie could do to help, but we ain't got no dog. Finally today, we decided to change the meds a bit, see if being awake, you had any suggestions on how to get rid of these evil spirits."

Shawn had closed his eyes during Joe's story telling, finding that Joe walking around in circles was giving him a headache. Shaking his head slightly, he replied, "I hate to break it to you guys, but there aren't any evil spirits in my body. A fun loving spirit maybe, but nothing evil."

Joe tsked as he looked at Dave. "See? They are still in there, trying to get us to let them go. I guess we're gonna have to up our ministrations; possibly going as far as to burn the body like they did in the old times with witches."

Starting to feel very nervous, Shawn stammered, "C-come on guys! We, we can talk this out! Look, the t-truth is, I'm not psychic. Never have been, never will be. It was just a way to um, to help on cases without being a police officer. It's j-just a scam. No evil spirits involved!"

"Quiet evil spirits!" Joe said forcibly as he started flinging something at Shawn. "Stop trying to spread your lies! For we don't believe a word you say!"

Shawn hissed as some of the liquid splashed in his eye. "What the hell?! I thought you said you were using holy water!"

"Do not curse, evil spirits!" Dave said as he too started flinging liquid at Shawn. "Since we are not priests, we could only get our hands on a little bit of holy water, and found it easier to steal communion wine. Both have been blessed and will work on you just the same."

"Are you even listening to yourselves?!" Shawn shouted as he tried to squirm away but his limbs were still not responding.

"This is not nearly enough," Joe said as he put the cup down. Picking something else up, he slowly approached Shawn's head.

Watching him wearily, Shawn asked, "What are you doing now?"

"Purifying the outside of the body hasn't done much good, so we must work on the inside too."

"What?" Shawn began, only to have a funnel shoved in his mouth. 

Quickly, his mouth started to fill up with salt and Shawn shook his head, trying to dislodge the funnel. Joe just put a hand on his forehead to still him and continued pouring the salt. Figuring that he had no choice, Shawn tried to swallow the salt, only to find that it was drying out his mouth and throat too much. Soon a liquid was poured into his mouth, which Shawn identified as the wine, and he swallowed that down too.

When Joe finally let up, Shawn was feeling very nauseous. He coughed and resisted the urge to throw up as much as he could, since he did not want to be laying in his own puke from being unable to move his body.

Joe said harshly, "Be gone, evil spirits, and leave this man alone!"

"Go to hell," Shawn muttered, not caring if it was the wrong thing to say or not.

Joe backed away and looked at Dave. "There's only one other thing that we can do for him, and it's not going to be pretty."

Dave nodded, looking a bit sick. "Then go ahead and do it, Joe."

Shawn watched as Joe picked something up from the table and came towards him. "Only he that is pure of heart can enter the kingdom of heaven," Joe recited softly as he knelt next to Shawn and raised a knife.

Dreading what was about to happen, Shawn closed his eyes but couldn't stop the scream that escaped him when the knife pierced his skin.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next few chapters, the perspective switches (which was really hard to keep straight while writing) so there's a lot of repeated stuff. I hope no one gets bored or lost.
> 
> Enjoy!

_ CHAPTER 14 _

Gun at the ready, Carlton quickly kicked open the door and yelled, "Freeze! Hands in the air!" The person by the door quickly obliged, even going as far as to lay down on the ground. Once his eyes adjusted to the dark lighting, Carlton barely resisted the urge to turn away. 

Shawn was tied up, arms and legs outstretched, in the middle of the floor, with a circle of salt surrounding him. His jeans were a tattered mess and his shirt was long gone. There were several cuts and bruises all over his body, including a noticeable broken leg. However, what really drew his attention was the 5-inch cut down the middle of his chest that the other guy was pouring salt into.

Shawn was still screaming, with his eyes shut tight, and did not seem to have noticed Carlton yet. The perp, on the other hand, continued to pour the salt and scolded, "Excuse me, but you are interrupting a very important ritual! Can you come back in a day or two?"

Clicking the hammer back on his gun, Carlton growled. "Move away from him! Now!"

The guy shook his head, "I told you that I'm busy, getting rid of these evil spirits so he doesn't curse our town! I'm doing this for the greater good, you'll see." He reached down and picked up the knife, getting ready to plunge it into Shawn again.

Without hesitation, Carlton quickly shot the guy in the arm. As the guy grabbed his arm and screamed, Carlton stepped forward and moved him away from Shawn and into the bathroom, handcuffing him to the sink. He ordered the other guy in as well and handcuffed him. Pulling out his phone, Carlton quickly dialed Juliet as he went back over to Shawn, who was whimpering and moving his head back and forth in pain.

Putting his phone on speaker and dropping it on the floor, Carlton quickly untied Shawn before tearing off his jacket. He placed it over the cut on Shawn's chest with one hand, as his other softly touched Shawn's cheek. "Shawn, it's alright; I'm here; you're safe now."

Shawn finally opened his eyes and the relief was evident as he spotted Carlton. "Lassie! You came!"

"Of course, you idiot. Where else would I be?"

"Glad to know you care," Shawn smiled just as Juliet's voice was finally heard through the phone.

_ "Carlton? What's wrong?!" _

"O'Hara, you need to get medics here, ASAP! I don't care what you have to do, just hurry the hell up! I've got two perps in custody, one with a GSW to the arm."

_ "What about Shawn? Is he okay?" _

"I'm right here Jules," Shawn croaked, his breathing labored.

_ "Shawn?! Oh my god, are you okay?!" _

When Shawn did not answer, Carlton replied, "Just hurry up O'Hara, the sooner the better."

_ "We just pin-pointed your location on a map and it looks like we can be there in 30 minutes." _

"You've got to do better than that! Get a chopper or something." Carlton growled as he pressed down harder on Shawn's chest wound, eliciting a moan.

_ "I'm doing the best I can with what I've got! There's a chopper en route that will take Shawn from Amelia to the closest major hospital in Bakersfield, but there's nowhere for it to land within a mile of the cabin." _

"Just hurry," Carlton growled as he ended the call. Turning his attention back to Shawn, who had his eyes screwed shut again, he said softly, "Shawn, I need you to stay awake. For as long as possible, okay?" Shawn nodded. "Good. Now can you tell me where else it hurts?"

Shawn shook his head as tears began to fall. "I can't, I can't feel my arms or legs. I can't move them at all. They've been pumping me full of drugs and who knows what damage that has done. Hell, they somehow made the last few days happen; unless I dreamt it all up."

"You didn't dream it up, it was real. You were there, annoying the hell out of me, helping me find you."

"And kissing you." Shawn added softly, opening his eyes.

Carlton nodded as he gulped, "Yeah, that too. And I promise Shawn, we will explore that option after you get released from the hospital."

"W-why do we have, have to wait so long?" Shawn stammered as he took deep breaths.

"Because I need time to think this through and you need time to heal."

Shawn turned his head and kissed Carlton's hand. "Think what through?"

"You, me. Us. I just don't know how we would work out. We are constantly at odds with each other."

"Opposites attract, right? Besides, you need to live more … more in the moment." Taking a deep breath, Shawn whispered, "Come here."

"What?! Why?" Carlton asked nervously.

"Just get down here," Shawn whispered impatiently.

Felling a bit foolish, Carlton leaned down until he was nose to nose with Shawn. With a sigh, Shawn leaned up and kissed him. It was a very chaste kiss, barely lasting more than a second, but it was enough for Carlton to feel some of Shawn's feelings and to feel something in return.

With a grin on his face, Shawn put his head back on the ground. "Now, do you really need time to think?"

Carlton sighed, "Maybe. I just don't know if I'm ready to take you on."

Shawn smirked as he closed his eyes, "Dude, there are so many ways that sentence could be taken that, if I was feeling up to it, I would embarrass you for a couple of days at least."

"Then I guess I should be thankful."

"Yeah." They lapsed into silence for a few seconds until Shawn groaned, "Oh god."

"What? What's wrong?" Carlton quickly looked Shawn over to see if there were any other injuries that needed his immediate attention.

"My dad."

"What about him?"

"I need to talk to him, let him know what's happened, smooth things over. Besides, you should check on the Winchesters and get me some water."

"I'm not leaving you." Carlton growled.

Shawn chuckled dryly which turned into a slight cough. "You're not going far. I promise to stay awake until you get back."

Still not convinced, but knowing that he had to make sure that the one guy wasn't bleeding out; Carlton grabbed his phone and quickly dialed Henry's number. Hearing it ring, he placed it by Shawn's ear before saying, "You better stay with me."

"I promise." Shawn mumbled.

Taking one more look at Shawn, Carlton regretfully got up as he heard Henry answer.


	15. Chapter 15

_ CHAPTER 15 _

When that knife cut into his chest, Shawn really thought that he was a goner. The pain was unbelievable as Joe started pouring salt into the wound. He thought he heard something over the pounding in his ears and his own screaming, but he could not be sure. Trying to block out the pain, he thought about how all the people in his life would react after he died.

Gus would be devastated, throwing himself into his second job, but only half-heartedly. He would probably become a shell of himself. Either end up completely alone or in a loveless marriage. His dad would sulk around the house a bit, throwing out a few of his things while keeping the ones that annoyed him the most. He would go fishing more often, since that was one of the few things that would not remind him of Shawn, and become a hermit. Juliet would cry her heart out for a few days before vowing to do better, in his memory. Maybe make head detective one day. Vick might say something at his funeral and try for a few weeks to get his dad to come out of the house before giving up. And Lassie, well, Lassie would still be the same and just say good riddance.

Although, maybe not. If the last couple of days really happened, then Lassie would be a complete mess. End up being fired from his job due to poor performance and alcoholism. Committing suicide within the year. Oh how Shawn wished that it was just a weird hallucination so that Lassie would not be a complete mess.

Shawn was startled out of his musings by a loud bang. A gunshot? Probably not, just wishful thinking. And yet, he wished it was real; because that would mean that he would not die alone; that they would not keep looking for him helplessly for years to come, getting no closure.

He felt something being pressed into his chest before a lighter pressure appeared on his cheek and a voice said, "Shawn, it's alright; I'm here; you're safe now."

Shawn opened his eyes and spotted Carlton. "Lassie! You came!" He almost choked out tears, hoping against hope that this was real, for Carlton looked and felt very real.

"Of course, you idiot. Where else would I be?"

"Glad to know you care," Shawn cracked a smile just as he heard Juliet's voice. She sounded so very far away; and, for second, he thought he imagined her voice until Carlton answered her. Then he realized that there must be a phone nearby. Her next questions definitely caught his attention.

_ "What about Shawn? Is he okay?" _

"I'm right here Jules," Shawn croaked as he tried to breathe through the pain. How could such a little cut hurt so much?! He might have to become a vegetarian after this; he can not even imagine how much pain an animal must go through in order to be made into the bite sized pieces that his favorite jerk chicken place cooked up.

Shawn let out a moan as the unappreciated pressure on his chest increased.

Although, the rational part of his brain pointed out, undeterred by what was happening to his body, animals were usually killed before they were cut up, and most likely only felt pain for a few seconds; and would he really be willing to give up the deliciousness of jerk chicken? Probably not. Maybe he would just eat less meat, that way a fewer number of animals had to suffer. If he could somehow stop his dad from fishing, that would be even better.

He heard Carlton talking softly to him again and tried to pay attention, not remembering when his eyes had closed.

"…For as long as possible, okay?" Shawn nodded since he figured that was what Carlton wanted. "Good. Now can you tell me where else it hurts?"

Shawn shook his head, keeping his eyes closed. The severity of the situation was overwhelming him and he could not stop the tears that started to fall. "I can't, I can't feel my arms or legs. I can't move them at all. They've been pumping me full of drugs, and who knows what damage that has done. Hell, they somehow made the last few days happen, unless I dreamt it all up."

"You didn't dream it up, it was real. You were there, annoying the hell out of me, helping me find you."

"And kissing you." Shawn said softly, as he opened his eyes; knowing that he did not imagine that kiss.

Carlton nodded, unable to hide his gulp, "Yeah, that too. And I promise, Shawn, we will explore that option after you get released from the hospital."

"W-why do we have, have to wait so long?" Shawn stammered as he took deep breaths. He was having so much trouble paying attention.

"Because I need time to think this through and you need time to heal."

Shawn let his gut instant take over and turned his head enough to kiss Carlton's hand. "Think what through?"

"You, me. Us. I just don't know how we would work out. We are constantly at odds with each other."

"Opposites attract, right? Besides, you need to live more … more in the moment." Taking a deep breath, Shawn whispered, "Come here."

"What?! Why?" Carlton looked at him nervously.

"Just get down here," Shawn whispered impatiently. He did not know how long he would be able to stay awake, or if he would even wake up again, and he was scared to death, no pun intended.

Carlton, ever so slowly, leaned down until they were nose to nose. Figuring that it would take a lot to have Carlton make the first move, Shawn leaned up and kissed him. It was a very chaste kiss since Shawn had very little energy, so it barely lasted more than a second, but he did feel Carlton start to give something in return.

Feeling like his thoughts finally cleared for a minute, Shawn grinned as he put his head back on the ground. "Now, do you really need time to think?"

With a sigh, Carlton said, "Maybe. I just don't know if I'm ready to take you on."

A million different responses ran through Shawn's head as he smirked and closed his eyes, "Dude, there are so many ways that sentence could be taken that, if I was feeling up to it, I would embarrass you for a couple of days at least."

"Then I guess I should be thankful."

"Yeah." Shawn started thinking about all the different ways that Carlton could thank him, from the simple acts of pineapple smoothies or dinners, to really sexual ways. Feeling himself drifting off, he groaned, "Oh god."

"What? What's wrong?" Carlton sounded truly concerned.

Knowing that he would regret it, Shawn replied, "My dad."

"What about him?"

"I need to talk to him, let him know what's happened, smooth things over. Besides, you should check on the Winchesters and get me some water." While his throat really was dry from that horrible treatment, just thinking about it was making him nauseous; he really did not want Carlton to hear what he had to say to his father.

"I'm not leaving you." Carlton growled.

Shawn chuckled dryly at Carlton's protectiveness, and ended up coughing a bit. "You're not going far. I promise to stay awake until you get back." Although he was not sure how long afterwards he would be able to stay awake.

Shawn watched as a number of emotions ran across Carlton's face until he finally relented. Shawn heard the phone ring as Carlton placed it by his ear, saying, "You better stay with me."

"I promise." Shawn mumbled as another wave of pain tore through him. He really wished that the paramedics would hurry up and get there. What he would give for some mind-numbing pain relievers; although with whatever drugs that were currently in his system, he might have to wait.

He heard Carlton stand just as his father picked up.


	16. Chapter 16

_ CHAPTER 16 _

_ "Carlton? What the hell is going on?! I got a call from O'Hara an hour ago saying that they might have found Shawn! That they got an anonymous tip about where his bike was, but when I asked about what you knew, she quickly hung up. Now what the hell is going on?!" _

"Hey dad," Shawn croaked when Henry finally stopped talking. His father's voice was doing wonders for his concentration. Although when he stopped talking, Shawn's mind started wandering again.

_ "Shawn?! Shawn, where the hell are you? Are you okay?!" _

"I'm alive, for the moment."

_ "Shawn, what's wrong?" _

"I can't, I can't concentrate. M-my brain keeps running off on tangents. Which, on any other day, wouldn't be a cause for alarm, but I can't get it to stop. And I also seem to be tuning people out. It probably doesn't help that these sickos pumped drugs into me because they wanted to confuse the evil spirits that had overtaken me or whatever. I mean, really?! Do I seem like the type of person that is harboring evil spirits?! Don't answer that. Although, some of the thoughts that I've had about Lassie could be considered evil, but more likely naughty. Like what I would love for him to do to me in the bedroom, especially with his handcuffs…."

_ "SHAWN!" _ Henry yelled.  _ "STOP!" _

Shawn instantly snapped his mouth shut, totally embarrassed about what he just told his father.

_ "Never mind that. You just need to focus. It's your brain and you are in charge." _

"But Dad, the only thing that there is to concentrate on is the pain, and I'm trying mighty hard not to think about it since thinking about it only makes it hurt worse, which is totally unfair. And thinking about it too much makes me nauseous, especially knowing what they were planning on doing next if Lassie hadn't come to save the day…."

_ "Shawn! I know that you're scared and freaking out, but you need to calm down. You said that Carlton is there? Where is he?" _

"He, um he's…" Shawn started to freak out when he could not see Carlton anywhere near him. "I don't, I don't remember. L-lassie? Lassie! LASSIE!" He tried to scream, even though his throat hurt like hell and his voice was not very loud. 

Luckily he was heard, because Carlton quickly came into view and knelt back down next to him.

"Shawn? What's wrong?" Carlton asked worriedly.

"You um, you weren't here. I didn't know where you were." Shawn closed his eyes in relief and tried to ignore the concern he heard in Carlton's voice.

"I was in the other room, checking on the perps. You sent me out there, remember?"

Shawn squeezed his eyes shut tighter as all of the fear from earlier was trying to overwhelm him again. "No, I don't, don't remember. I don't know what's wrong with me." It was becoming more difficult to breathe. The rational part of his brain was now telling him that he was having a panic attack, and also might be going into shock, and just needed to calm down. The rest of his brain was screaming for that part to shut the hell up because it so did not need any distractions while it was concentrating on breathing.

The voices around him seemed to fade out and became fuzzy, but eventually he heard, "…look at me and calm down!"

Shawn shook his head as he tried to breathe in deeply, making his chest hurt more. "I, I can't."

"Damn it Shawn, look at me!"

Shawn finally opened his eyes, but he did not see Carlton. Instead, he saw Joe and Dave throwing wine and salt at him. Joe coming towards him, first with the funnel and then with the knife. He was about to scream with pain as he watched the knife descend, when suddenly his lips were captured by a pair of chapped, vaguely familiar lips.

* * *

  
  


Carlton had just finished tying a towel around the bullet wound of the one perp, who was rambling about how they were all doomed since they never got rid of the evil spirits, when he faintly heard his name. Well, a nickname that only one person in the world was stupid enough to use. The panicked tone in which it was said made him quickly come back into the main room and kneel down next to Shawn.

"Shawn? What's wrong?" Carlton asked worriedly as he checked Shawn's wounds.

"You, um you weren't here. I didn't know where you were." Carlton watched with concern as Shawn closed his eyes in relief.

"I was in the other room, checking on the perps. You sent me out there, remember?"

"No, I don't, don't remember. I don't know what's wrong with me." Shawn's breathing started to increase.

_ "Shawn! Shawn, what's wrong?"  _ Henry asked.

"A panic attack sir." Carlton answered as he framed Shawn's head with his hands. "Shawn. Shawn, I need you to look at me and calm down."

Shawn shook his head and gasped, "I, I can't."

"Damn it, Shawn, look at me!"

Shawn finally opened his eyes again, but Carlton could tell that Shawn was not seeing him and was becoming more distressed. Not knowing what else to do, Carlton leaned down and kissed Shawn. It only took Shawn a second to calm down enough to start to kiss back, closing his eyes as the kiss intensified.

Right before Carlton was about to end the kiss, Shawn relaxed and passed out. Leaning back, Carlton checked Shawn's pulse and was relieved when he still felt it.

_ "What's going on, Carlton?" _

"He passed out sir." Sighing, Carlton turned towards the door as he heard the faint sound of sirens. "Backup's almost here."

_ "Okay. I'll call Karen and find out where they're bringing him. Stay with Shawn until I get there." _

Carlton knew it was a command, not a question, but he still could not help protesting. "No, I can't. I…."

_ "Carlton. I trust you, my son trusts you. I really need you to stay with him until I can see Shawn for myself and know that he's okay. Got it?" _

"Yes sir."

_ "Good. I'll see you soon." _

The line disconnected before he could reply and Carlton just left the phone there as he moved Shawn's hair off his forehead. "How the hell do you always get yourself into these situations? And, in turn, me?"


	17. Chapter 17

_ CHAPTER 17 _

Before Carlton knew it, the place was swarming with police and paramedics. He was quickly pushed aside as the paramedics examined Shawn.

"Carlton!" He heard as he took a few steps away from Shawn. "Carlton, Are you alright?" He looked up and saw Juliet hurrying over to him. "What happened?"

Carlton just shook his head as he turned back to Shawn. The medics quickly put an oxygen mask on Shawn and hooked him up to a portable heart monitor.

Juliet put a hand on his arm and asked, "Carlton, can you tell me what happened?"

"After Shawn um, crashed his motorcycle a week ago, the two preps kidnapped him. From the little I could gather, they were trying to rid him of evil spirits by any means necessary. They pumped him full of drugs and cut him, filling the wounds with salt. When I got here, one of them was about to stab Shawn in the chest again, and wouldn't step back, so I shot him."

"Oh God," Juliet softly exclaimed as she covered her mouth. "Was Shawn awake?!"

Carlton nodded as he watched the medics strap Shawn to a backboard and lift him onto the stretcher. When they were about ready to go, Carlton quickly called out, "Wait! I'm going with him!"

"I'm sorry sir but there isn't any room in the ambulance."

"I made a promise to both him and his father that I would stay with him, so I'm going with you, damn it!" He was just about ready to pull his gun out and force them to bring him along, when he felt a hand on his arm.

Juliet gave him a stern yet sympathetic look before she turned to the paramedics. "Please look at it from Shawn's perceptive. If he wakes up before you reach the hospital, he might appreciate a familiar face to help calm him down, especially after everything that he's been through."

"Like I said, there isn't any room in the ambulance. But," the medic continued before either of them could protest. "If you follow us, you can probably join in the chopper."

"Fine. O'Hara?" Carlton looked at Juliet, who bit her lip.

"I wish I could, Carlton, but I need to secure the scene and make sure that we don't miss anything."

"Then give me your keys!"

"I'm not giving you my keys, Carlton. You're in no state to drive yourself."

Carlton quickly scanned the room as the paramedics made for the door. "Dobson! I need you to drive."

Barely waiting for Dobson to nod, Carlton started to follow the paramedics outside, when Juliet called his name. "What?!" He snapped.

"I need your gun." Juliet said calmly.

"Why?! I don't have time for this!" He made for the door again when Juliet grabbed his arm.

"Carlton, you said you fired your weapon. You know that procedure says that I have to take your weapon as evidence. So hand it over or I will have to detain you."

"Fine!" Carlton huffed as he pulled out his gun and made sure the safety was on before handing it over.

"Thank you." Juliet smiled gently. "Now make sure that Shawn is safe."

Carlton nodded as headed out the door, Dobson quick to follow.

By the time they reached one of the squad cars, the ambulance was pulling away.

"Come on, let's go!" Carlton growled at Dobson, who was fiddling with the keys.

"Yes sir," Dobson replied, finally finding the right one and unlocking the car.

* * *

  
  


The helicopter was about halfway to the hospital when the heart monitor sounded. "What was that?" Carlton asked.

"His heart rate is accelerating. Hopefully it'll calm down soon since we don't know how a sedative will react with the unknown drugs already in his system."

Growling slightly, Carlton pulled out his phone and quickly dialed Juliet as he continued to watch the monitor.

_ "Juliet O'Hara." _

"Have you found out which drugs they were giving him?"

_ "Yeah. Um, ketamine and heroin." _

"Crap!" Carlton cursed as he snapped the phone shut. Looking at the paramedics, he said, "They gave him ketamine and heroin."

"Damn. I'm surprised he's still alive." The one medic said as he started writing on the chart.

Carlton shook his head and replied "Well, he's always been one lucky son of a…."

Suddenly, the monitor was going berserk as Shawn started thrashing. "He's seizing!" The head medic exclaimed as he made sure the lines and wires did not get ripped out.

"Can't you do something?" Carlton asked as Shawn kept thrashing.

"I'm sorry, but we can't. We have to let the seizure run its course."

Carlton waited with bated breath until, finally, Shawn stopped. The medics quickly checked all his stats and lines. Taking a deep breath, Carlton reached over and squeezed Shawn's hand.

He was a bit surprised when he received a weak squeeze in return. Looking up, he saw Shawn slowly waking up. Shawn's eyes lazily examined his surroundings, eventually landing on Carlton. Carlton smiled slightly and squeezed Shawn's hand again. "Hey."

"Hey," Shawn responded tiredly. "Where are we?"

"We're in a helicopter, on our way to the hospital."

Shawn nodded his head slightly as he returned to examining his surroundings. "Then Jules finally made it."

"Yeah. She's making sure that we don't miss anything. We want an airtight case."

Shawn's eyes landed on the heart monitor and he seemed to be mesmerized by it. After a few minutes without Shawn moving his gaze, Carlton squeezed his hand. "Hey, are you still with me?"

"Where's my dad? I thought I was talking to him earlier." Shawn asked as he looked back at Carlton.

"Yeah, on the phone. He's meeting us at the hospital."

"Okay." Shawn yawned. "I'm tired."

Carlton looked up questionably at the medics. The lead medic nodded as he continued to update Shawn's chart. "Sure, go ahead Shawn."

"Okay. Don't forget that you promised that we would talk."

"Once you are better, and not before."

"Fine," Shawn sighed as he closed his eyes. "Thanks, Lassie."

"Go to sleep, Spencer."

Carlton watched as Shawn slowly fell back asleep. Once the monitors fell down to a more normal level, he looked up at the medics. "How much longer?"

"Maybe 5 minutes."

"Good." Carlton squeezed Shawn's hand again as he leaned back in his seat.


	18. Chapter 18

_ CHAPTER 18 _

When they reached the hospital, Shawn was rushed off to a trauma room while Carlton was led to the private waiting room that was, thankfully, empty. Taking a deep breath, he sank down into the nearest seat and proceeded to stare blankly at the wall.

There was so much to take in that Carlton instead turned his focus onto his favorite movies. And it worked, for the most part. Every time a stray thought of Shawn came up, he would push it away by thinking of which laws were broken in the movies.

When Henry and Gus arrived a little over two hours later, they found him in the exact same position. Gus froze in the doorway while Henry slowly walked over and sat down across from Carlton. When Carlton failed to acknowledge them, Henry gently laid a hand on his knee and asked, "Carlton, are you okay?"

Carlton frowned as he finally snapped out of it and looked at Henry. "What?"

"Are you okay? You have a very despondent look on your face and are covered in blood."

Carlton looked down and saw all the dried blood. "I'm fine." He responded flatly, preferring to stare at his hands.

"No, you are not."

"I'll be fine. It's Shawn you should be worried about."

"I just talked to the nurses," That got Carlton to look up. "They stabilized him, started stitching up wounds, and are still running tests. You should really go get cleaned up. I'll see if they have some clean clothes that you can have."

Carlton sighed and was about to run a hand through his hair when Henry stopped him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Carlton stared at Henry for a few seconds before nodding. He stood up and made for the restrooms. Gus finally averted his eyes as Carlton walked past him.

Carlton went straight to the sinks and took a good look at himself in the mirror. His pants were more blood than fabric and his shirt did not fare much better. There were a few streaks on his forearms from when he rolled up his sleeves and his hands looked like he dunked them in a bucket of blood. Trying not to think about it too much, Carlton turned on the hot water and started scrubbing.

Once his hands were red from hot water instead of blood, Carlton took off his shirt, thankful that he thought to wear an undershirt today, and threw it in the trash. Since he could not walk around without pants on and no one had come to him with clean clothes yet, Carlton took out his pocket knife. The pants were already ruined and he definitely would not be getting the jacket back. Very carefully, he tore his pants off a few inches above the knee. Figuring that he could wait until he got home to throw out his shoes, he looked into the mirror again.

With most of the blood out of the way, Carlton saw how pale and shaken he looked. The only other time he had been this bad was after his first firefight as a rookie. He was lucky and walked away with just a few scratches while several people, including one officer, had lost their lives. He was a complete mess afterwards and could not walk straight for hours. He was sent home and told to take the next day off as well.

That was also the first time Victoria brought up her unease of him being an officer. She knew how much being an officer, and eventually head detective, meant to him; so she hardly ever voiced her opinion about it. However, when she did, big fights always followed; usually ending with Carlton either sleeping on the couch or, as the years went by, at the station. When Victoria started giving up and ending the fights early, he knew something was wrong. Less than a year later, she asked him to move out.

Shaking his head, he bent down and splashed water on his face and neck. He so did not need those memories creeping up on him. They were all in the past and he had enough to worry about right now. Like how if he had arrived a few minutes later, Shawn could have died. He heard Joe's ramblings about how all they needed to do to purify Shawn was to open his heart and pour salt into it. He somehow managed to keep his cool at the scene, only punching Joe once in the face, but right now, he was not doing so well.

Carlton closed his eyes and took deep breaths, but it did not help. He kept seeing Shawn, scared and in pain, covered in blood and still flirting with him. Only Shawn would be flirting in that type of situation. Carlton guessed he should be somewhat thankful that Shawn was conscious and lucid enough to flirt. Part of it was probably a distraction from the pain, which he was more than happy to provide.

A week ago, hell even a day ago, Carlton never would have entertained the thought of kissing Shawn. It was so out of his comfort zone, it was in outer space. Now that he thought about it, he could not believe he had never noticed that Shawn was in love with him. It was so obvious, with all the touching and teasing and the way Shawn reacted when he yelled at him last week. Looking back, it was totally uncalled for, no matter how much stress he was under. And because he lost his temper, Shawn was now paying for it.

It was completely his fault. If he had not yelled at Shawn, Shawn would not have left and crashed his bike. He might not have been kidnapped or his body tortured so much. And if Carlton had gotten there a few minutes earlier, then maybe Shawn would have one less scar. But of course, he had to take things slow and cautious; especially since he had no idea what he was getting himself into. Shawn's life was on the line and Carlton had let his police instincts take over, when the rest of his head was screaming at him to hurry the hell up.

Carlton shook his head, unwilling to let the tears fall in such a public place. This line of thinking was so not helpful. What's done is done, and there was nothing he could do but make sure that Shawn got better, both of their feelings aside. Taking deep breaths, he finally straightened up and made his way back to the waiting room.


	19. Chapter 19

_ CHAPTER 19 _

Carlton was a bit surprised to see both Buzz and Juliet there, but before he could question them, a doctor appeared, asking for the family of Shawn Spencer.

"Here, all of us." Henry said as he passed a pair of scrubs off to Carlton.

The doctor surveyed the group before asking, "Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm Shawn's father and whatever you have to say to me, can be said to them. Three of them are police officers while the other one is his best friend. So stop pussyfooting around and tell us what's wrong!"

"Very well. If you would all take a seat." The doctor gestured towards the chairs and waited until they were all seated before continuing. "My name is Doctor Phillip Braxton and I'm the Chief of Surgery here. As you are probably aware, Shawn arrived in a very bad state. Our first concern was to make sure all of the bleeding had stopped as we quickly replenished some of his lost fluids. He lost over 40% of his total blood volume, which is very dangerous. Unfortunately, with the current blood shortage, we could only give him so much; his body will have to slowly fill that gap. Most of the cuts require sutures and, last I heard, there are around 50 stitches and counting."

"Oh my god," Juliet whispered. Carlton looked up and saw Gus put a comforting arm around her.

"Hopefully, they'll come out in 7-10 days. From the motorcycle accident, he sustained a broken leg, a few minor cuts, several bruised and one cracked rib, and, we suspect, a concussion."

"You suspect?" Henry growled. "How do you not know?"

"Well, Mr. Spencer, you must understand that the accident occurred over a week ago and a lot has happened since; including him being heavily medicated with ketamine and heroine. Now, those are very strong drugs by themselves, but together and with a concussion, it's a very bad situation indeed."

"How bad?" Henry asked.

"There's going to be brain damage. Now before you get all worked up, there is some hope. The paramedics said that he woke up and was coherent for a brief time during the helicopter ride as well as for a time before they arrived. Do we know how long?"

When no one answered, Carlton, who had been staring at the floor, looked up to see everyone staring at him.

"Carlton?" Henry asked. "You were with him; do you know how long he was awake?"

Carlton sighed and ran a hand down his face. "I don't know. He was awake before I got there, but it was maybe a half hour or so before he passed out."

"And was he coherent at the time?" Doctor Braxton asked

Carlton laughed slightly, "Oh yeah. I mean, at times he seemed to zone out while others he kept jumping from subject to subject."

"He told me he was having trouble concentrating." Henry added softly.

"You talked to him?" The doctor asked.

"Yeah, he called me, told me that he was having trouble concentrating, yet he was still talking a mile a minute."

"Is that something he usually does?"

"No. I mean, yes but not like that."

"Would you care to elaborate?"

"Well, if you knew my son, you would know that he doesn't like silence and always feels the need to fill it. But like Carlton said, he kept jumping subjects. Half the time I don't think he knew what he was saying even as he was saying them."

"Okay, there most definitely has been some brain damage, but we won't know how much until he wakes up." The doctor said as he wrote on the chart.

"And when will that be?" Gus asked.

"We don't know. He might wake up tonight or it might be days before he does, we have no way of knowing. Medically, it would be best if he wakes tomorrow. Since this will be a very stressful time for Shawn, I am bending the ICU rule of a 10-minute visit every hour. I will allow one person to be in the room at all times until after Shawn wakes up. Once he's been assessed, we'll re-evaluate the need for constant visitation."

"Thank you doctor," Henry nodded.

"It's the least I could do. They should be finishing the suturing soon, and then Shawn will be moved into an ICU room. I will have a nurse let you know when you can see him. Just keep in mind that at any time a nurse asks you to leave the room, please do."

"Of course," Henry stood as he reached forward to shake the doctor's hand. "Thank you."

"Well, good day." Doctor Braxton nodded as he left the room.

There was silence for a few seconds before Carlton asked, "O'Hara, did anyone move my car?"

"Yeah," Juliet replied as she brushed a few tears away. "Buzz brought it here to the hospital."

"Good." Carlton nodded as he stood up. "Then I'm going home."

"What?!" Gus and Juliet exclaimed while Buzz looked a bit confused. Henry seemed to be the only one okay with it.

"I said I'm going home. I'm tired and hungry and could really use a shower." He worked on unfolding the scrub top.

"But Carlton, don't you at least want to see Shawn before you go?" Juliet asked.

"No. I was with him in both the cabin and helicopter."

"But Carlton…" Juliet started.

"Damn it, O'Hara! I just want to go home!" Carlton snapped as he pulled the shirt down. He suddenly felt a bit lightheaded and might have fallen over if it was not for Buzz grabbing his elbow. Shaking his head, he said quieter, "I'm fine."

"No you're not," Henry said. "You're in no state to drive. You're emotionally and physically drained and, quite frankly, smell of blood and alcohol. I suggest that you let McNab here take you home."

"I don't need a chauffeur."

"Please, Carlton!" Juliet pleaded. "Let Buzz drive you home."

Carlton wanted to continue arguing, for he did not need company for the rest of the night, but knew that between Juliet and Henry, he had no chance in hell of winning the argument. Rubbing his forehead, Carlton sighed, "Fine. Let's go McNab."

* * *

  
  


It was a fairly quiet ride, Buzz only asked two questions: if he wanted something to eat, in which Carlton replied no, and what his address was once they reached Santa Barbara. Although Carlton was drained after the events of that morning, images of Shawn's mutilated body kept him from closing his eyes for long.

Once they arrived at his house, Carlton could not even find it in him to tell Buzz to stay outside. Buzz said something about calling his wife to pick him up, but Carlton ignored him and went straight to the bathroom for a shower. He spent so long in there that the water had turned frigid and Buzz knocked on the door, asking if everything was all right. Ignoring him, Carlton turned off the water, grabbed a towel and went into his bedroom to change. Since he was not planning on going anywhere else that night, especially being almost 9pm, Carlton pulled on pajama bottoms and a tank top.

Returning to the living room, he found Buzz and his wife, whose name Carlton was blanking on, sitting quietly on the couch.

Seeing him, she got up and gave him a hug. "Thank you for finding Shawn. I don't know how you did it, but at least he's with family now."

Unsure of what to say, Carlton just nodded when she finally pulled back.

"Now, I hope you don't mind, but I cleaned up a little while you were in the shower. I also brought over some homemade chicken noodle soup, fresh baked cookies, and leftover meatloaf. There should be enough for a few meals and I can bring some more food over tomorrow night."

"Thank you, but I'll be fine." Carlton grimaced.

"Are you sure? Because you are looking a little skinny. One cannot live on alcohol alone."

"Francie!" Buzz warned.

"I probably deserve that." Carlton mumbled as he leaned against the doorway.

"Yes you do." Francine's face softened a bit. "I'll give on the bringing you meals part but until you gain enough weight, I'll make sure that you get enough baked goods, alright?"

"You better agree with her, sir. My Francie is one tough negotiator." Buzz smiled as he put an arm around her.

Rubbing his forehead, Carlton sighed, "Okay then."

"Good." She smiled. "Now Busby and I need to get going. Please be sure to eat before you get some sleep." She picked up her purse and made for the door.

"Yes ma'am."

"Goodnight, sir." Buzz nodded as he opened the door.


	20. Chapter 20

_ CHAPTER 20 _

Once they left, Carlton ambled into the kitchen. On the counter, there were two foil-covered plates and a small pot with lid. Deciding to start with the soup, he grabbed a bowl and poured it in, a bit surprised to find it still warm. Sweeping all the papers off the table, he sat down to eat. The soup tasted homemade and was probably one of the best he ever had. He thought about getting seconds but decided against it, opting to try the meatloaf. It smelled good as he took off the foil but he froze as soon as he saw it. There was bright red ketchup on top, which reminded him of Shawn. Dropping the foil, he bolted for the bathroom.

After expelling all of the soup and then some, Carlton leaned against the wall and stared at the ceiling. This case should not be bothering him so much. It was a case, just like any other. He has seen much worse, so why was he getting so upset? Because he knew the victim. The one who, even drugged and unconscious, could not leave him alone. He had the worst luck when it came to Spencer.

With a sigh, Carlton got up, flushed, and washed his hands before heading back into the kitchen. The sight of the meatloaf was still making him queasy, so he decided just to throw it away, remembering at the last second to save the plate. He put the rest of the soup in the fridge and grabbed a couple of beers. He drowned both bottles quickly before grabbing three more and made his way into the living room.

Opening his third beer of the night, he picked up the remote and turned on the television. All of the local news stations, having no other big new stories, seemed to be reporting that Shawn had been found. Thankfully, the police refused to release any information pertaining to the case, besides that Shawn was currently at an undisclosed hospital. It had better stay that way too; or else Carlton would go down to the station and chew the whole lot of them out and he was in no mood to be messed with.

Flipping through channels, he found Cops, Lethal Weapon, Grey's Anatomy… and The Exorcist. The Exorcist being the last straw, Carlton turned off the television before throwing the remote across the room. He sighed when he heard the front hall mirror shatter but did not care enough at the moment to clean it up.

He was about to take another sip of his beer, when a voice that he had heard way too often the past few days said, "Aww, Lassie! You're gonna have seven years of bad luck! Quick, you gotta spin around three times in a counter-clockwise direction while throwing salt over your shoulder and grind the mirror shards into a fine powder. Hurry, Lassie! Before the curse sets in!"

Carlton placed the bottle on the coffee table as he rubbed his head. "Spencer! What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Psh! You should know by now that I have no idea what is going on and have no control over anything! Besides, your response should have been: 'Spencer! I've already had three years of bad luck because of you; seven more isn't going to be that much of a difference.' Then I would say, 'Oh silly Lassie, you know these next seven years are going to be heavenly epic.' In which you would yell…."

"Spencer! Stop it!" Carlton snapped, turning towards where Shawn's voice was coming from. "Nothing is ever gonna happen between us."

"Exactly! And I say, 'Aw, Lassie! We both know you don't mean that!' Then you: 'Of course I do. You've been a pain in my ass ever since the day we first met.' Next I'll say suggestively, 'The good kind of pain!' Then you would get all mad and grumpy, kind of like how you are now. And I would keep making suggestive and slightly inappropriate comments until you finally snap and push me against the wall, when I will, unashamedly, take advantage of the situation and kiss you…."

"Will you shut up!" Carlton yelled as he threw his half-empty bottle towards the mess in the front hall. "Why can't you be serious for five minutes?"

"Because I wuv you!" Shawn joked.

"Well don't!" Carlton snapped as he marched into the kitchen. "And don't you dare follow me!"

He leaned his forearms on the counter, head down, and took deep breaths. He really should not be yelling at Shawn, especially after everything Shawn had been through recently. He highly doubted, although there was a slight chance, that Shawn was here on purpose. Who in their right mind would haunt someone, who has a gun, when they were not even dead yet? Carlton paled at that. That was his answer; Shawn was not in his right mind. The doctor said that Shawn would have some brain damage because of everything and Shawn was not dead yet, not even close. And if Shawn was here, bugging the hell out of him again, then something was still wrong. And apparently Carlton was the only one who could fix it, again.

"Lassie?" Carlton heard Shawn call softly from the doorway.

Without turning around, Carlton asked tiredly, "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at the hospital with your dad and Guster?"

"I told you, I have no idea what's going on. Besides, this time, I don't seem to have control of where I go."

With a sigh, Carlton turned around and crossed his arms, "What do you…mean?" He faltered at what he saw.

"I mean that I can't go where I want to, like before. I cannot even leave your house at the moment, and believe me, I have tried. And…Lassie, are you okay?"

"I don't know," Carlton whispered, staring at Shawn weirdly.

"Well, you're starting to creep me out. So if you could just stop, that would be fantastic."

Without replying, Carlton walked over and poked Shawn in the chest.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Shawn asked as he took a step back. "I thought we already established that I'm not really here."

"We did. But right now, I can kind of see you."

"Really? That's weird. Wait, what do you mean 'kind of'?"

"Well, you look like water vapor."

"Water vapor? Um, Lassie. I think you're drunk."

"I'm not drunk!" Carlton growled.

"Those two empty bottles on the counter plus the half-empty one you threw would beg to differ."

"Just shut up for a minute and let me explain!" Carlton snapped.

"Okay." When Carlton glared, Shawn said, "Sorry. Force of habit."

"You know how on really hot days, the air tends to have a hazy look about it, especially near the water? "

"Yes!… No. What?"

"You kind of have this weird, hazy outline."

"Like a mirage?"

"Sort of."

"Or like a ghost?"

Carlton paled at those words. "Don't even joke about that."

"Sorry, sore subject." Carlton flinched. "Sorry again. Hey! Where are you going?"

Carlton ran out of the room and headed for his bedroom.


	21. Chapter 21

_ CHAPTER 21 _

Carlton quickly found his phone and dialed Juliet. As he paced the room, he heard Shawn ask, "Lassie, what's wrong?"

Carlton held a hand up as Juliet finally picked up. Not giving her a chance to talk, he asked, "O'Hara, how's Spencer?"

_ "Carlton? Are you okay?" _ She asked with concern.

"Yeah. How's Spencer?"

_ "He's fine, I just left his room. Have you been drinking again?" _

He rolled his eyes at the question. "So nothing new or out of the ordinary has happened in the last half hour or so?"

_ "Not really. Well, he has a fever and the doctors are worried about infection, so they switched out the antibiotics for something stronger about 20 minutes ago, but that's nothing unusual. Carlton, you really have to stop drinking. Look, I can be at your house in about 2 hours, one and a half if I push it. I'll even grab some food." _

"I'm fine. Someone already dropped off some food."

_ "Really? Who?" _

"Fran-Fran, um… McNab's wife."

_ "Oh, that was nice of her. Did you eat any?" _

Carlton rubbed his forehead, a bit annoyed that everyone seemed to be concerned about him. "Yes, I had some soup."

_ "Carlton! You have to eat more than just soup, especially since you didn't eat lunch." _

"I'm fine, O'Hara!" Carlton snapped.

There were a few seconds of awkward silence between them, only broken on Carlton's end by Shawn's "Oh, you shouldn't have done that!"

Glaring at Shawn, Carlton whispered into the phone, "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for."

_ "It's okay, I understand." _

"Look, I'm really tired and should probably get some sleep."

_ "Yeah, that's a good idea. I will see you tomorrow. And don't hesitate to call me if you need anything." _

"Alright. Night."

_ "Good night, Carlton." _

With a sigh, Carlton dropped his phone on the closest surface before collapsing on the bed. He was so tired. He closed his eyes and waited for sleep to come, when a voice broke through his bliss.

"So, what did Jules have to say?"

Carlton sat up slowly and glared at Shawn's hazy outline. "That you've got a fever, so they switched your meds, but otherwise, you're still alive."

"Oh good. Because as much as I love you and enjoy annoying you, I do not like the thought of haunting you day after day for the rest of your life. That would be so boring, and really sad, especially if you are going to be an alcoholic. I'd rather spend the rest of my life making love to you," Shawn started singing and swaying a bit to invisible music. "Just you and nobody else but you…."

"Stop it!" Carlton snapped.

"Stop what, Lassie?"

"Stop saying things like that!"

"Technically, I was singing it." Shawn joked.

"Spencer!" Carlton growled.

"Why? It's true! People are always saying that you should tell the truth, and when I do, you tell me to stop! Talk about mixed signals."

"I don't want to hear it."

"Hey! I am the one who had the very traumatic and life-changing experience. I think that I should be allowed to say whatever I want while I still have some sense of sanity."

"I just don't want to hear you saying that you l-l-like me." Carlton stumbled over the L-word.

"Like you? Dude, I am so past just liking you. Especially after finding out that you have feelings for me too."

"I do not have feelings for you."

"Said the lair."

"Spencer!"

"What? The other day you said, and I quote, 'I actually feel sorry for you.' It was a very touching moment."

"Feeling sorry for someone and actually having feelings for them are two totally different things."

"Eh, potato, potatoe."

"Spencer!" Carlton snapped again before sighing and rubbing his face. "I just…I can't have feelings for you."

"What?! Of course you can. Unless… no. No! What?"

"What?" Carlton asked confusedly.

"Are you trying to tell me that the great Head Detective Carlton Lassiter of the Santa Barbara PD, that he's homophobic?"

"What? No!"

"I so did not see that coming," Shawn continued, ignoring Carlton for the moment. "I mean for one thing, you picked the wrong state to work in. You should move to Texas, then you also have the added bonus of being able to carry a gun everywhere, even on your days off."

"I'm not homophobic."

"Well that's a relief." Shawn sighed.

"But I'm also not gay. I've only ever been with women."

"Hey! Me too! Look, something else we have in common, besides the whole detective thing."

Carlton snorted and crossed his arms. "Yeah right, Spencer. I don't believe for a second that you have never been with a guy before."

"Why not? And why are we back to Spencer. I like it when you call me Shawn."

Carlton shook his head. "Well for one thing, you're too free-spirited and happy to be straight."

"That doesn't mean that I'm gay! Maybe a hippie. I tried that once, being a hippie. My hair did not like it; and what the hair wants, the hair gets. And what is wrong with looking on the sunny-side of life?! Buzz is one of the happiest guys I've ever met, and he's very straight."

"You also seem to flirt with everyone you meet, no matter their gender."

"Flirting is a form of complimenting someone, and everyone enjoys the occasional compliment. Besides, there is a difference between genuine flirting and playful flirting."

"I've seen no difference."

"That's because you never realized that I was genuinely flirting with you. Everyone else, it has been this half-hearted attempt to either get information or play the part of the goofy flirt. With you, I have been trying to make you smile and relax, even before I knew that I liked you. You have a nice smile and I wish you would show it more."

Carlton blushed and ducked his head. "Either way, it's a waste of time. I'm not gay and am never going to return the, um, attempts."

"Are you sure about that?" Shawn whispered, sounding very close.

Carlton looked up to see Shawn's image within inches of his face, and it was making his eyes hurt so he shut them. "W-what, what are you doing?"

"Nothing that I haven't already tried."

"Spencer, it-it's late. And I, I really should get some sleep."

"In a minute." Shawn said as he leaned forward and kissed Carlton.

Carlton tried to pull back, but Shawn kept following. Soon, they were lying down on the bed and Carlton had so far resisted the urge to kiss back.

After a minute, Shawn pulled back slightly with a sigh. "This is usually more fun when both parties participate."

"Spencer, I can't do this."

"Why not? Little Lassiter seems to be getting excited."

Carlton groaned and covered his face. "You're not really here."

"Maybe not physically, but my mind and soul totally are."

"I do not feel comfortable with any part of this. Get off me!"

"Fine," Shawn huffed as he slowly got up.

"Good. Now get out of my room."

"But why?" Shawn whined.

"I don't need you trying anything in the middle of the night."

"What if I promise to stay in the corner and leave you alone?"

"Out. Now."

"Fine! But if something happens to me, it'll be all your fault."

"You're not even here! How can anything happen to you?" Carlton asked as he got up and followed Shawn to the door.

"I don't know. What if another ghost-spirit-thing appears and decides to beat me up?"

"You can handle yourself. Good night."

"But Lassie!" Shawn whined.

"I said good night!" Carlton snapped as he slammed the door. Rubbing his head, he went to lie down, ignoring Shawn's pleading.

"But Lassie! You left the lights on! And there is still a mess in the front hallway! What if Jules or someone comes by and trips on it? They can get seriously hurt."

"It'll be their own damn fault for coming into my house uninvited!" Carlton called as he turned off the lamp and pulled his comforter up.

"Come on Lassie! You know I get bored easily!" Getting no response, Shawn huffed. "Fine! I'll just start singing very loud and annoying Queen songs!"

Carlton groaned and pulled the extra pillow over his head, wishing Shawn would just shut the hell up, or learn to sing in key.


	22. Chapter 22

_CHAPTER 22_

Henry should have known that, with Gus out of town, Shawn was more likely to run. When Juliet had called him Wednesday, Henry believed that Shawn had just taken off for a while and would be back by the weekend. And he held onto that belief. At least until Saturday night, when they still had not heard anything from Shawn and got nothing back on the phone and credit card records or BOLO. That is when Henry started to worry.

He went to Shawn's apartment the next day with Gus; a bit ashamed that he did not know where Shawn lived. Although Gus said that Shawn moved every two months or so, and had only been living at this place a few weeks. Gus had been by with Juliet the previous two days and explained that it did not look like anything was missing, besides Shawn.

But Henry knew better. He discovered that a couple of Shawn's favorite shirts were missing as well as the travel size bottles of his hair care stuff. Henry was slightly relieved that his hunch about Shawn leaving for a few days was right; but then again, he should have been back by now. They looked to see if Shawn had left a note, which of course he did not.

After an hour in the apartment, Henry called it quits. If Shawn wanted them to know where he went, he would have left a voicemail on someone's phone; not a note in his apartment that probably would not be found until after he was supposed to return.

* * *

The call from Carlton yesterday was totally unexpected. Henry was washing his truck when the phone rang. He quickly dropped the hose and dried his hands as he raced for the phone sitting innocently on a chair. With a breathless voice, he answered after the third ring. "Yeah?"

_"Mr. Spencer? This is Detective Lassiter."_

"Carlton? Why are you calling? Has something turned up about Shawn?" He tried to hide his worry, but he knew he failed when it took a second for Carlton to reply.

_"Not really. I just have some questions. About the last time you saw him?"_

Henry sighed. He had answered this question plenty of times and wished that they would talk with each other. "Look, I already told Gus, Karen and Detective O'Hara that Shawn gave me no indication about where he was going. I didn't even know that he was gone until Wednesday night when O'Hara called looking for him."

_"I understand, but can you tell me everything anyways? Something might help us figure out what happened."_

Henry's gut clenched as he remembered the last time he saw Shawn. He had not told anyone else the details, thinking it was unimportant since he believed Shawn would be back soon. But now, he knew he had to tell someone, and at least Carlton would not reprimand him for how he treated Shawn; Lord knows Shawn annoyed Carlton constantly. "Okay. He came over around five; I don't know why since I told him the night before that I would not be home for dinner. The washer had broken down not even a half hour before, and I was in a hurry, trying to figure out the problem. Basically, he caught me at a bad time. So before he could try to distract me for whatever reason, I told him that I did not have time for him. And unless he wanted to help mop, he should leave. I thought I saw a hint of disappointment on his face before he nodded and left. I felt uneasy, so once I moved some stuff out of the way so it wouldn't get soaked, I looked out the window and saw Shawn staring unseeingly at the house. I was about to call him back inside when I heard thunder. Shawn must have heard it too since he snapped out of his trance and left. That was the last time I saw him."

_"And do you have any idea where he might have gone?"_

"No, but if it helps, Shawn doesn't like riding in storms. So he probably waited until it cleared up a little before leaving." Knowing that Shawn was a somewhat responsible rider was one of the only things that had Henry back down from getting rid of the bike.

_"Yeah, that helps a bit. I stayed at the station until the storm passed, which was about 10, so we can say Shawn left between 9 and 11. Thanks Henry."_

"Carlton." Henry sighed before continuing. He knew Carlton could get in trouble if he went against protocol; but Shawn was his son, Damnit! "Look, I know Shawn and I don't get along well, but he's my son and I care about him. As soon as you find him, I want you to call me. Even before you call the chief or an ambulance, call me. Got it?"

_"Yes sir."_ Carlton responded politely.

"Good luck." Henry quickly hung up. He stared at his phone for a few minutes before going back to his truck. He needed to get the soap off before it dried.

* * *

  
  


This afternoon, Henry was in the meat section of the grocery store when his phone went off. "Yeah?" He replied with the phone between his ear and shoulder as he compared two packages of steak.

_"Hello, Mr. Spencer. This is um Juliet O'Hara and, well..."_

"Just spit it out, Detective. Have you found anything new about Shawn?"

_"Yes, we might have found his motorcycle."_

"But not Shawn."

_"Well, I mean..."_

"Detective, it is a simple question. Have you found Shawn?" He interrupted as he threw one package in his cart and the other back into the cooler.

_"Not yet. But..."_

"But what?"

_"Mr. Spencer! If you would just be quiet for a minute, I will tell you!"_ She snapped.

Henry raised his eyebrows at her tone, mildly impressed since Karen was the only one who could convincingly snap at him; even Carlton could not do it. "Very well."

_"Sorry! It's just been a very stressful day, week really. And I know it must have been the same for you."_

He grinned slightly at her back peddling. "It's alright. Now what do you know about Shawn?"

_"Not much, we got a um, an anonymous tip that someone found his car along the s-side of the road. We should be there any minute now."_

Henry could tell that she was lying about something. "What do you mean 'anonymous tip'? And where's Carlton? He called me yesterday and it sounded like he knew something, but he didn't give me any indication that he was on Shawn's trail."

_"Really? He didn't tell me..."_

Henry was puzzled when Juliet stopped talking; he checked his phone to see that they were still connected. Before he could ask, she came back.

_"I've got to go, I'll keep you updated."_

"Okay," Henry got out just before she hung up. He lowered the phone and just stared at it for a few seconds as he processed everything. "They found him," he whispered after a minute. Smiling slightly, Henry quickly steered his cart towards the checkout as he dialed a number. He just got into a lane when Gus answered, _"Mr. Spencer! How are…"_

Henry cut Gus' greeting off with, "They found him."

_"What? Really? They found Shawn! Where? When? How?"_

"I don't know. But they found his bike. Supposedly by an anonymous tipster, but I think that part is a load of crap. Carlton knows something but O'Hara doesn't even know what."

_"Wait, so they haven't actually found him yet?"_ Gus sounded disappointed.

"Not officially, but I know they are close, I can feel it. Just wait, it's going to be Carlton who finds Shawn."

_"Oh, then what are we waiting for?! Let's go join them!"_

Henry shook his head as he pushed his cart forward. "Hold your horses, Gus. They are going to check out his motorcycle, and who knows how badly beat up it is. Do you really want to see that?"

_"Oh. I guess, I guess not."_

"Exactly. Look, I'm at the grocery store right now. Meet me at my house in about 20 minutes and we'll try to find out where they are so that we will be closer to the hospital once they find Shawn."

"Okay."

"Good. See you soon." Henry quickly hung up and loaded his groceries onto the conveyor belt. He knew that, before the end of the night, he would be seeing Shawn again.


	23. Chapter 23

_ CHAPTER 23 _

By the time Henry got to his house, he was pissed off. Carlton was not answering his phone and neither Karen nor Juliet would tell him where Shawn's motorcycle was. Karen seemed to be the most stressed; she even threatened to arrest him for interfering with a police investigation if he came anywhere near the motorcycle scene. He knew that the department would not press charges, but they could keep him in lockup overnight. He decided not to risk it, but it did not help his temper.

Grabbing the grocery bags out of the truck, he slammed the doors and stomped his way inside. After putting away the perishable food, he took out his phone and started pacing. He needed to do something, anything, but no one would give him information. Hell, by the sound of it, Karen was already mad at Juliet for calling him. He felt a little guilty for getting her in trouble, especially after she took the time to let him know about the bike, but his worry over Shawn outweighed it.

He was contemplating calling Carlton again when Gus rushed in the door. Slightly out of breath, it took Gus a few seconds to get out, "So have you heard…anything yet?"

"No. Karen isn't letting me have any information at all! She even threatened to have me arrested if I showed up at the scene! Can you believe that?! Who the hell does she think she is, trying to keep me from my own damn son! I have half a mind to go to the station and demand information. In fact, why don't we go there right now?"

When Henry made for the door, Gus quickly got in his way. "Mr. Spencer, wait! I completely agree with her."

"You better watch it, Burton! I'm not above pushing you out of my way. Don't make me get my gun."

Gus swallowed nervously before continuing, "See! It's your reaction right now that proves that she's right. You're not thinking clearly. If you go to the police station, or even the accident scene, you'll just cause a lot of trouble. Trouble that will delay them from finding Shawn."

Henry took some deep breaths before finally nodding and taking a step back. "Fine. Then what do you suggest?"

"Well, why don't you let me call Juliet and find out where they are. Or at least the general direction so that we can start driving."

"Go ahead then." Henry said as he resumed his pacing.

Gus quickly took out his phone and hit speed dial #3. It was answered rather quickly.

_ "Detective O'Hara." _

"Hey, Juliet."

_ "Hi, Gus. Sorry, this is a really bad time. We've finally got a lead on Shawn." _

"So I've heard. That's actually why I'm calling."

There was a few seconds silence before Juliet asked,  _ "Are you with Mr. Spencer? Because I already told him more than I should. The Chief would have my hide if she knew I was talking to either one of you. And I so do not need any more stress today!" _

"Please Juliet! You don't have to tell us anything specific! Just what direction you went so that we can be just that much closer to the hospital."

_ "I guess I could…" _ Juliet paused. Less than a second later, she said,  _ "I've got another call. I'll call you back." _

Before Gus could say anything else, she hung up. With a sigh, he lowered the phone.

"So, what did she say?" Henry asked, still pacing.

"That she shouldn't be telling us anything, but I think she was going to tell me a general direction. That is until she got another call and hung up."

Henry rubbed his head before going for the door. "Come on."

"What? Why? We don't even know where we are going!"

"Well then, we can be just that much closer to finding him if we're already in the truck!" Henry called back as he went outside, not even waiting for Gus.

Gus looked between the door and his phone nervously before finally nodding and hurrying outside.

* * *

  
  


A half hour later, they were heading north on route 101 when Henry's phone went off. He quickly got it out and looked at the caller ID. "It's Carlton." He said to Gus as he answered and put the phone between his ear and shoulder. "Carlton? What the hell is going on?! I got a call from O'Hara an hour ago saying that they might have found Shawn! That they got an anonymous tip about where his bike was, but when I asked about what you knew, she quickly hung up. Now what the hell is going on?" Henry took a deep breath, getting ready to chew Carlton out, when a voice he'd been wanting to hear all week answered instead.

_ "Hey dad." _

The truck served slightly as Henry grabbed the phone and pressed it closer to his ear. "Shawn?! Shawn, where the hell are you? Are you okay?"

_ "I'm alive, for the moment." _ Henry could hear the pain and desperation in his son's voice.

"Shawn, what's wrong?"

_ "I can't, I can't concentrate. M-my brain keeps running off on tangents. Which, on any other day wouldn't be a cause for alarm, but I can't get it to stop. And I also seem to be tuning people out. It probably doesn't help that these sickos pumped drugs into me because they wanted to confuse the evil spirits that had overtaken me or whatever. I mean, really? Do I seem like the type of person that is harboring evil spirits? Don't answer that. Although, some of the thoughts that I've had about Lassie could be considered evil, but more likely naughty. Like what I would love for him to do to me in the bedroom, especially with his handcuffs…." _

"SHAWN! STOP!" Henry yelled as he quickly moved the truck off the road so he could concentrate on Shawn. Gus was staring at him with wide, desperate eyes. "Never mind that. You just need to focus. It's your brain and you are in charge."

_ "But Dad, the only thing that there is to concentrate on is the pain, and I'm trying mighty hard not to think about it since thinking about it only makes it hurt worse, which is totally unfair. And thinking about it too much makes me nauseous, especially knowing what they were planning on doing next if Lassie hadn't come to save the day…." _

"Shawn! I know that you're scared and freaking out, but you need to calm down. You said that Carlton is there? Where is he?"

_ "He, um he's…I don't, I don't remember. L-lassie? Lassie! LASSIE!" _ Henry could hear him starting to panic, his voice becoming more strained.

He was about to reassure Shawn, when he heard footsteps coming closer to the phone. Laying his head on the steering wheel, he listened as Carlton and Shawn talked. When he heard wheezing, he shouted, "Shawn! Shawn, what's wrong?"

_ "A panic attack sir." _ Carlton replied before talking soothingly to Shawn

Henry felt so helpless. He was who knows how many miles away, and his son was obviously in pain, both emotionally and physically.

"Mr. Spencer? What's wrong with Shawn?" Gus asked nervously.

Henry looked up at Gus tiredly. "I don't know, Gus. All I know is that Shawn is hurt and is having trouble concentrating." Hearing silence on the line, he asked, "What's going on, Carlton?"

_ "He passed out, sir. Backup's almost here." _

"Okay. I'll call Karen and find out where they're bringing him. Stay with Shawn until I get there." He could tell that Carlton was tired and would protest, but he had his son to think about.

_ "No, I can't. I…." _

Henry shook his head as he started the truck again, "Carlton. I trust you, my son trusts you. I really need you to stay with him until I can see Shawn for myself and know that he's okay. Got it?"

_ "Yes, sir." _

"Good. I'll see you soon." Henry quickly dropped the phone as he pulled back onto the road. "Gus, call Karen and ask her where they're bringing Shawn."

"What? I, I thought she wasn't letting you h-have any information." Gus asked nervously.

Henry rolled his eyes before glancing at Gus. "She won't let me at the scene, but we're going to the hospital. Now call her! If she gives you any problems, give me the phone."

"Yes sir," Gus replied as he got out his phone and dialed. Henry pushed harder on the accelerator.


	24. Chapter 24

_ CHAPTER 24 _

Entering the hospital, there was one thought and one thought only on Henry's mind: seeing Shawn. He quickly tracked down a nurse and got an update on Shawn. It was not exactly what he was hoping for, but at least Shawn was alive and stable. The nurse also told them where Carlton was and how to get there. A bit surprised that Carlton had actually listened to him, Henry made his way to the waiting room.

At first, Henry thought they were in the wrong room. Carlton looked so…depressed and defeated. It was the look of a man that was at the end of his rope and did not know what else to do. Approaching slowly, unsure of how Carlton would react, Henry sat down across from Carlton.

During their short conversation, Carlton seemed to come out of his stupor a bit, especially after hearing word about Shawn. Deciding to leave the rest of the questions until later, Henry made Carlton go get cleaned up and he asked a nurse for some clothes Carlton could change into. By the time the nurse came back with the clothes, Juliet and Buzz showed up. Henry began his questioning almost as soon as they stepped into the room. Most of the answers they either did not know or were not sure about.

When he asked how Carlton managed to figure out where Shawn was, Juliet shrugged and said, "I don't know. He's been acting weird all week and it got really bad the last few days. I even got a call last night from one of his neighbors that someone needed to check on him."

"Really? What happened?" Henry asked as he folded his arms.

Juliet shared a look with Gus before replying, "I shouldn't say, but it has me really concerned. I was going to check on him during my lunch break today, he even called me earlier in the morning; but when I got to his house, he wasn't there. So I called him and he finally told me he was going after Shawn. Wouldn't give me any explanation. He found the bike and even a trail that led him to where Shawn was hidden."

Henry sighed, "Well, he's going to have to give at least Karen an explanation. I'll call her to let her know." He was about to get his phone out when Carlton came back.

The doctor arriving pushed all thoughts that did not revolve around Shawn out of his mind. He did not care that the rest of them were hearing everything, they would get the details eventually; might as well get the facts straight from the horse's mouth. The news was not good, but it was not hopeless either. Shawn was a fighter, just like his father, and would pull through. Somehow. He thanked the doctor and listened half-heartedly as Juliet tried to prevent Carlton from leaving. After watching Carlton almost fall over, Henry finally interceded, knowing that Carlton would not argue with him, much.

Once Carlton and Buzz were out of ear shot, Henry pulled out his phone and called Karen. She was a bit surprised that he was calling her, especially about Carlton, but understood his concern for Carlton and promised to get him to talk, whether he wanted to or not. That done, he asked Juliet, as politely as he could after such a draining day, what they had found at both scenes.

They were finally allowed in to see Shawn about two hours after Carlton had left. Even with everything the doctor said and what little Juliet had told them, there was no way to prepare him for what he saw. Shawn was in such a bad shape, that Henry was afraid to touch him. The little bit of skin that was not covered in bandages or the gown, some places both, had bruises and scratches that seemed to be healing, including his face. Henry had brushed Shawn's hair back, avoiding the stitches, whispered "Glad to have you back kid" and straightened the blankets, before leaving the room to let Gus and Juliet each have a turn.

He was about to go back into the room when an alarm went off and he was pushed into the hallway. Once the excitement calmed down, Doctor Braxton explained that Shawn had developed an infection, so his temperature and heart rate were slightly elevated. They gave him something stronger and would be keeping a close eye on his vitals.

After the doctor left, Henry convinced both Gus and Juliet to go home. There was no need for all three of them to spend the night in uncomfortable hospital chairs, and Juliet had work to do in the morning. Henry, for one, did not want those bastards to get off on a technicality, like miss-placed evidence or improperly filed paperwork. Admitting defeat, they took turns saying goodnight to Shawn before leaving. Juliet got a phone call before she reached the elevator, but Henry was too tired to eavesdrop. If it was anything important, she would tell him. Or he could just get the information in the morning.

Henry sighed as he collapsed into the chair by the bed. So much had happened today, the past week, that he could not believe it had been eight days since this whole ordeal began. He had gone fishing a few times to take his mind off things, but it did not help. He kept thinking about the last time he saw Shawn. Shawn seemed devastated and defeated, but Henry was too concerned with his own problems at the time to notice. If he had just taken a good look at the kid, he might have stopped Shawn from running, or at least would not have snapped at him. He should have at least called the kid; maybe not to apologize, but to find out what was wrong.

But it was too late now; there was no way to change the past, only the future. Looking Shawn over, Henry could tell that Shawn was going to need a lot of help once he was released. Hopefully the doctors were wrong about brain damage. Shawn was a smart kid, no matter how he acted; his brain should be able to beat this. It might be hard at first, but with all these willing people behind him, Shawn will be alright. Henry just knew it.

Closing his eyes, Henry settled in for the night. Knowing that, at least until Shawn woke up; Henry was not going to be leaving the hospital anytime soon.


	25. Chapter 25

_ CHAPTER 25 _

The next morning, Carlton woke to the ringing of his phone. Reaching blindly for where it usually sat on the end table, he was confused when he was met with empty space. Lifting his head slightly, Carlton looked around the room and saw it sitting on top of his dresser. Before he got up, it stopped. Sighing, he laid back down. While debating whether or not he should check to see who called, it rang again. He quickly got up and snagged the phone.

Ignoring the headache from moving too fast, he answered, "Lassiter."

_ "Detective, it's about time you answered. I was afraid I was going to get the voicemail, again." _

"Chief!" He glanced at the clock, wincing at the late hour. "I um, I-I-I'm sorry I'm late. I can be at the station in a half hour..."

_ "That's okay, Carlton. I heard about what happened yesterday, and I think that it would be best if you stay home for another day or two." _

"O-okay. I mean, yes ma'am."

_ "But I do need you to stop by sometime this afternoon to give your statement. I would like an explanation as to how you discovered where Mr. Spencer was, and why my head detective went into a potentially dangerous situation without any backup!" _

He cringed at both the tone and volume of her voice. He was about to respond when he heard a snicker and Shawn's voice said laughingly, "Aw man, Lassie! You're in so much trouble!" Carlton turned and glared in the direction that Shawn's voice came from, noting that he didn't see the weird outline of Shawn like the night before. "What?! I told you to call for back-up. You're the one who was worried about what would happen to you if you tried to explain it. At least you've got a few more hours to think of a good excuse!"

_ "Carlton? Are you still there?" _

"Yes ma'am. I'll be at the station in a few hours."

_ "Good. Don't keep me waiting. I would like a chance to visit Shawn before going home." _

"Of course."

Carlton dropped the phone on the table and went towards his dresser.

"So, what's the plan for today?" Shawn asked as he moved out of Carlton's way.

"I'm taking a shower before making a giant pot of coffee and drinking it. After that, I'll probably eat some breakfast, or should I say lunch..."

"Brunch?" Shawn piped up.

Carlton glared in his general direction. "After I eat some food, I'll make my way to the station. And as I'm doing all that, you will be nowhere near me. I also need to think of how to spin this craziness so I don't get suspended, lose my job, or end up in the Looney bin. Although, right now, I'm not sure which I would prefer."

"Technically, if you get sent to the Looney bin, you'll probably lose your job, or at least get demoted."

Carlton darkened his glare as he yanked clothes out of the drawers. "You better hope not, because if my job gets destroyed in any way, I will take it out on you! I don't care whether or not you're really here or stuck in the hospital in a coma. I will have my revenge."

"Oh come on, Lassie! You know you love me and would never hurt me, right?" 

Carlton grabbed his towel and went into the bathroom. "Just leave me alone this morning, at least until I'm finished talking with the chief."

"Well, what am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know, go visit your father."

"Dude, I told you last night that I can't seem to leave your house."

Carlton frowned and turned around. "What were you doing while I was sleeping?"

"Nothing much. I was just in this dream-like state where I remembered what happened this past week, while also still aware of being in both your house and my hospital room. It was very weird and confusing; I even have this slight headache."

"Fine. Just, just stay out of my way." Carlton rubbed his forehead and shut the door.

With a sigh, Shawn collapsed onto the bed. "Nice to know how much you love me. I'll try to figure this out by myself then." Closing his eyes, Shawn concentrated on the image of his hospital room. After a few minutes, he opened his eyes and was disappointed to see Carlton's ceiling. With a growl, Shawn covered his eyes and tried again.

Slowly, he started thinking about other things that would be in his hospital room. Like the machines beeping, his father's breathing, smell of antiseptic, people walking past the door. Soon, he started hearing and smelling more specific things. Like certain doctors being paged, the television softly playing, someone snoring, and a mixture of old spice, fresh linens, antiseptic, and a hint of lavender.

Wrinkling his nose, Shawn opened his eyes to find himself in his hospital room. Glancing around the room, he saw the TV quietly showing a poker tournament, Gus sleeping in a chair, himself on the bed, and his father standing by the door and gazing at the Shawn on the bed. Shawn did not know what freaked him out more: seeing himself looking almost dead with a whole bunch of wires and tubes attached; or his father's stare.

Ignoring the bed, Shawn walked over to Gus and examined his best friend. Gus looked slightly more relaxed than a few days ago, but still tired. He was clean shaven and had fresh clothes on, but had a faded stain on his pants, like he spilled coffee or something. Probably tried to wash it off in the washroom before giving up. His dad was in no better state: clean yet wrinkled clothes, tired expression, and a cup of, if Shawn wasn't mistaken, cafeteria coffee.

Leaning against the wall, Shawn sighed, "Now what?" Before he could dwell on it, a doctor came in. Noticing Gus sleeping, the doctor gestured for Henry to come out into the hallway. Intrigued, Shawn followed them.

"I'm pretty sure that I said only one visitor at a time, Mr. Spencer." The doctor smiled.

"Yeah, well, Gus had fallen asleep and I thought, instead of waking him, it might be okay if I stayed."

"In any other department, that most likely would be the case. But as you can tell, these rooms are fairly small and it's a bit easier getting around one concerned visitor than two if there is an emergency."

"Yeah, I see your point." Henry sighed and rubbed his face.

Shawn shook his head and commented, "Wow, you must be tired, letting the doctor win an argument."

"I see you were able to go home and change," the doctor said.

Henry scoffed, "More like Gus brought me some clothes and I washed up in the bathroom."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I know you live over two hours away, but there is a hotel a block over."

"I'll think about it, doc. But as soon as Shawn is awake and well enough, I want him transferred to Santa Barbara General so he'll be closer to friends and family."

"I understand that sir, but if he doesn't wake up soon, the odds of him ever doing so keep getting lower."

"Doctor, I know my son and he will wake up eventually. He's just waiting to make me mad."

Shawn laughed, "Yeah, I could see myself doing that."

"Trust me; he'll wake up before the weekend is over." Henry folded his arms.

"That is very optimistic of you, sir." The doctor stated.

"It's not optimism, it's a gut feeling, and my gut is hardly ever wrong."

Shawn nodded his head, "Yeah, I could attest to that."

"Now, tell me what's new with Shawn."

The doctor looked down at his chart as he said, "Very well. The antibiotic is working and his fever is going down, but it could spike back up again. There doesn't seem to be any more spots of infection. The hospital recently got a new supply of blood, so we're waiting for the approval to give him a few more pints."

"Well, what's the hold up? If he needs blood, then give it to him!"

"Sir, you must understand. Yes he needs more blood, but he has enough that he'll survive until his body can make more. But until then, he still runs the risk of a complication arising. But on the flip side, another trauma victim might come in and we won't have enough blood to keep them alive long enough to save them. It's a bit of a catch 22, I'm sorry to say."

"Then take some of my blood and give it to Shawn."

"Wow Dad, that's almost a normal response."

"We could do that. When was the last time you gave blood?"

"I don't know, half a year ago or so."

The doctor nodded as he tapped the chart on his leg. "We might be able to take two pints today. Then it will be several hours, maybe a whole day, before we can give him the blood, depending on how busy Labs are."

"Just do it. I don't care how long it takes, as long as Shawn gets some fresh blood."

"Alright. Then I will have a nurse bring you downstairs to an empty bed..."

"I want to do it up here, so I can watch my son."

"That's creepy, dad." Shawn shook his head.

"Sir, it will be at least an hour before you can get up, and you will need nurses to check on you."

"Well, when they check up on Shawn, they can check on me too."

The doctor smirked, "I'm not going to win this one, am I?"

"Sorry doc, but I'm too stubborn, and I want to be there in case anything happens."

"Very well. I'll let a nurse know."

"Dang dad, you always have to have your way." Shawn inputted.

"Thank you." Henry nodded as he headed back to the door.

"Mr. Spencer!" The doctor called and waited until Henry turned around. "I'm still going to enforce the one visitor at a time rule."

"Fine, then I'll send Gus out to get lunch, or at least to go sleep in the waiting room." With that, Henry entered the room.

The doctor shook his head and went towards the nurse's station, mumbling, "Very interesting fellow. Can't wait until the son wakes up and I can meet him."

Shawn chuckled as he followed his father. "Believe me doc, you're gonna regret those words."


	26. Chapter 26

_ CHAPTER 26 _

Feeling slightly better after his shower, Carlton was a bit surprised when he did not sense Shawn nearby. "Spencer? Are you still here?" Getting no response, he shrugged as he went to his dresser. "So much for not being able to leave." Carlton went through his normal routine with his mind half on what he was doing and half on what he was going to say.

By the time he got to the station, he decided that he would confide in the chief and hope that she could help him figure out what to do. As he walked through the station, he noticed all the strange looks he was receiving. Ignoring them, he went straight to the chief's office and knocked. Chief Vick was sitting at her desk and waved him in. As he opened the door, he found Juliet sitting at the table, case files spread out in front of her.

"Lassiter, right on time. O'Hara and I were just going over what was found at the cabin and crash site."

Carlton nodded as he stopped halfway between the door and desk. "Chief, do you mind if I talk to you alone?"

Karen raised an eyebrow. "Is it about the case?"

"Sort of."

"Sort of? Look, whatever you have to share, O'Hara is going to hear about it eventually, so you might as well tell us both."

Carlton rubbed his face and took a few steps closer. "Please Chief, this needs to be off the record and in the strictest of confidence."

Karen frowned and shared a look with Juliet before asking, "Carlton, are you alright?"

"Karen, please."

Juliet stood and said, "It's okay, Chief. I'm gonna take my lunch break now."

"Alright, O'Hara."

After quickly collecting her things, Juliet stepped up to Carlton and placed a hand on his arm. "Carlton, please call me later so we can talk?"

Carlton nodded and watched as Juliet left the room. Once the door was shut, Carlton collapsed into a chair in front of the desk.

"Is everything alright, Carlton?"

He laughed, "I have no idea. Either I'm crazy or Shawn is."

"What do you mean?"

"Look, I need to know that everything I say does not get written done or leaves this room."

Karen hesitated, "You know I can't promise you that; especially if it's illegal or has something to do with Mr. Spencer's case."

"I just really need someone to tell this to." Never in his life did Carlton feel so vulnerable and weak as he did right then.

"Okay, Carlton. I will keep this quiet, unless it is absolutely necessary to tell."

"Good enough." He leaned forward and put his face in his hands and elbows on his knees. Taking a few deep breaths, he spoke to the floor. "I don't know how to explain this. For all I know I could be completely crazy; but we did find Spencer, I found him! So I don't know what to think."

"Why don't you start from the beginning? That's usually a good place to start."

"Okay, well, a few days ago, um… Monday to be exact, I was in the conference room with O'Hara…"

"I heard that you two got into quite the argument."

Carlton nodded. "This weird feeling came over me around the time McNab showed up. It was a mix between getting goosebumps and stepping off a spinning carnival ride. I didn't think anything about it at first, writing it off as a side effect of sleepless nights and having a hangover…."

"You've been drinking?" She sounded both concerned and angry.

"Yes, but only at night, and not enough to affect my performance at work."

"We'll come back to that issue. Continue, please."

"The feeling passed and I didn't notice it again until later that night, around 9:30 or so. Only this time, it was different. I heard a voice as well." Carlton gulped and paused. This was it, there was no turning back. Either he tells her everything (well, maybe not everything), or he comes up with a complete lie. It was a hard choice, both options having their consequences, but thinking about Shawn, Carlton knew what he had to do….

* * *

  
  


"…And he seems to have disappeared for the time being, but I hardly ever know when or where he'll show up again. Besides sometimes 'feeling' his presence first."

An hour later and Carlton felt completely worn out. He told Karen almost everything that had happened; she did not have to know about the kisses and some of their more private conversations. Besides asking him to clarify a few things, she just listened and let him talk. He felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders; but every second that passed by without Karen saying anything, his feeling of dread kept increasing.

Finally, after what seemed like hours but was probably only a few minutes, Karen said, "Thank you, Carlton. I know this must have been difficult for you. Why don't you go home and come back tomorrow to sign your statement."

He looked like a deer caught in headlights. "But, Chief, you promised this would all be off the record!"

"And it will be. I am going to write a, let's say paraphrased, version of events. It's not lying; just only stating the important stuff."

He relaxed slightly, "Thank you, Chief."

"You're welcome. Now, go home. And be nicer to Shawn if he 'shows' up again." She smiled slightly.

"Chief, I see no humor in all this."

"Well I do. I think it is very funny that Shawn only showed up to the one person who seems to hate him the most."

Carlton groaned as he got up and headed for the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, Chief."

Grabbing the jacket he left at his desk on Tuesday, Carlton exited the station without any hassle. He was almost to his car when he heard his name called.

"Carlton, wait!"

He sighed as he heard Juliet running across the parking lot. "What is it O'Hara?" Reaching his car, he turned around and leaned against it

"We need to talk!"

"About what?"

"About you." Juliet said as she stopped in front of him.

"I'm fine."

"No, you are not! You haven't been fine in over a week. A week, Carlton! And what was with this morning?! Why did you kick me out of the Chief's office?"

"Technically, you left on your own." He crossed his arms.

"Only because you wanted me to leave! I could tell you were stressed and whatever you had to say seemed pretty damn important. But don't forget, this is my case! I'm the lead detective on it and I would appreciate some honesty!"

"You'll get my statement tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Why can't I have it today?!"

"It's not that important, at least not since we already have the perps and found Spencer. Now if you don't mind, I've got to go."

She grabbed his arm when he tried to turn around. "Like hell you do! We both know that you're just going to go home and sulk for a few hours. Now stop avoiding my questions and give me some real answers, dammit!"

He was surprised by her action but quickly snapped, "O'Hara, get your hands off me!"

"No! Not until you talk to me! I am your partner and I have every right to…"

"Detective O'Hara!" They both turned to see Karen hurrying over to them. "Please release Detective Lassiter right this second."

Sending a glare at Carlton, Juliet let go and rounded on Karen. "But Chief, you don't understand. He's been acting weird all week and won't talk to me!"

"I do understand. Carlton has told me almost everything and he's free to go, for now."

"You did?" Juliet asked Carlton, looking crestfallen.

Carlton ducked his head as Karen replied, "Yes, he did. You will get a copy of his statement tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. Now O'Hara, I believe you have some work to do."

Juliet bit her lip as she looked between the two of them before finally nodding and heading back into the station.

Once Juliet was out of earshot, Karen turned to Carlton and said, "You should tell her."

Carlton laughed, "I barely got up the courage to tell you. Besides, she is going to insist on talking to Shawn and make me the go-between. That is if she believes me."

"It's not as far-fetched as you would think, especially with Shawn being a 'psychic' and all." She smiled. "I suggest you at least call her tonight and smooth things over. You know she's been worried sick about you."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Maybe Shawn can help you with what to say."

Carlton groaned and turned to unlock his car. "It's still not funny." he grumbled, ignoring her chuckle as he climbed inside and shut the door.

"Have a good day, Carlton." Karen waved as she stepped back.

Deciding that the retort on the tip of his tongue would get him in trouble, he just gave her a glare as he pulled out of the parking space.


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The quotes I used in this chapter are not my own. One is a French proverb, another a Swedish proverb and one is by Thomas Kempis, although I've seen conflicting data on that. 
> 
> Enjoy!

CHAPTER 27

Carlton was about halfway home when he changed directions. He could not stand another day at home with only Spencer to distract himself from his racing thoughts; all it did was increase his stress. He decided to go to the gym since his other outlets were the gun range at the station and drinking; but he had had enough alcohol for quite a while and he really did not want to risk the chief kicking him out, again.

He parked a fair distance from the building before pulling his gym bag out of the trunk of his car and making his way inside. He managed to brush off the receptionist, who was a little too enthusiastic for his mood. Honestly, after more than four years of him attending this place, she should know that he was not one for small talk and preferred to be left alone.

After quickly changing into shorts and a t-shirt, he made for the treadmills. Depending on how tired he was, he usually visited three "stations", each for about 20 or 30 minutes, before heading out: treadmill, bench press, and swimming pool. The pool was nice after a long day of work and he always tried to spend at least a few minutes there every time before leaving.

Picking a treadmill away from the other people and televisions, Carlton quickly worked himself up to a steady 6 mph and lost himself in the steadying rhythms of his feet, breathing, and heartbeat. He let his mind drift through memories of his childhood, particularly time spent at Old Snorora. Sometimes thoughts of Shawn would cross his mind, but Carlton would push them away and concentrate on his breathing.

He was eventually startled out of his trance by a touch to the elbow. Stumbling slightly, he quickly grabbed onto the machine and slowed his pace down until he was walking. "What?" he growled, turning a glare onto the receptionist, noticing how tired he suddenly felt.

She smiled nervously and said, "I'm sorry Mr. Lassiter, but company policy says that all patrons must take a 10 minute break every hour when on one machine, unless you have a signed note by a physician. You've been on the treadmill for almost 80 minutes with no signs of stopping."

"Fine!" He snapped as he turned off the machine. "I was almost done anyways."

"Thank you, sir. We appreciate your cooperation." With another smile, she quickly left.

Feeling a bit fatigued, he grabbed his water bottle and slowly made his way to the locker rooms. Finding it empty, he collapsed on a bench and sighed, "Dammit Spencer! Even when you're not here, you still mess with me."

He'd never gone that long at that speed before. The most he had done was maybe a 5 mile run in just over an hour. If the receptionist was right, he just ran over 9 miles. A new record, for sure. But he would be paying for it over the next couple of days. He looked towards the door that led to the pool, but knew he would not last long. He would be lucky enough to get home in one piece. Sighing, he opened his locker and threw his extra clothes in the gym bag, deciding to wait until he got home to shower.

* * *

  
  


Carlton was about 10 minutes from his house when the all too familiar feeling from the past week swept over him. Sure enough, it was barely a few seconds later when he heard, "Hey Lassie! Did you miss me?"

Carlton sighed as he stopped at a red light. "What do you want, Spencer?"

"Oh, you should know what I want by now." Shawn said seductively.

"I've had almost five blissful hours without you. Couldn't you disappear for a few more, maybe even the whole day?"

"No can do, Lassie! I had no idea I was coming back to you. I was just like, 'Wow, my dad is so boring. Can't even watch anything interesting on TV. I wonder what Lassie is up to?' Then, poof! I find myself sitting in your car! Let me tell you, you are much better to look at than my dad or my beat up body. Ugg, talk about creepy!" Carlton paled at Shawn's words. "Um, Lassie? Are you okay?"

Carlton swallowed nervously and nodded. "Yeah. I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Because the light changed and we've yet to move."

Carlton looked up and saw that, indeed, he had a green light. He quickly accelerated, only to slam on the brakes when Shawn yelled, "Stop!" Before he could ask, a car went zooming in front of them, going through the red light, with a few cop cars following them. Carlton took a deep breath before easing off the brake and slowly making it through the intersection.

"Wow," Shawn breathed. "You almost got smashed. Aren't you glad I was here to save your life?"

"Excuse me?! You're the one who was distracting me in the first place! If it hadn't been for you, I would have been through the intersection and on the other side before that car went through."

"Uh, no it wouldn't have, Lassie. If anything, the other car would have at least hit your trunk and sent you spinning."

Carlton was going to snap back when he noticed that his hands were shaking. Pulling over, he parked, leaned his head on the steering wheel and took deep breaths. After a few minutes, he felt calm enough to keep driving.

After a minute, Shawn broke the awkward silence. "So, what have you been up to? Oh! You went to see the chief. What did you end up telling her?"

Carlton coughed nervously, "Everything."

"Everything?"

"Well, not everything. I did leave out about you kissing me and coming onto me. There were a few other things left out, too. But yeah, she knows almost everything."

"Wow," Shawn whispered. "Huh. I didn't think you would have the guts. What happened to 'if anyone finds out, they'll send me to the Looney bin!' hmm?"

Carlton shrugged, "You know what they say about burdens."

"That …they always put you down?" Shawn asked.

"No."

"Everyone thinks that their own burden is heavy?"

"No!"

"How about: 'Love feels no burden, thinks nothing of trouble, attempts what is above its strength, pleads no excuse of impossibility; for it thinks all things lawful for itself, and all things possible'."

"N-no," Carlton stuttered, a bit thrown off by Shawn's seriousness.

"No, hmm? How about 'they're a pain in the ass'?"

Carlton rolled his eyes as he pulled into his driveway, "No! A burden shared is a burden halved."

"Who the hell says that?"

"Everyone."

"Everyone?"

"What are you, channeling a parrot now? Yes, everyone! It's an old Swedish proverb."

"Oh! Wait, I thought it was 'Shared joy is double joy and Shared sorrow is half sorrow'."

"I've heard it both ways," Carlton mumbled as he got out of the car.

Carlton was halfway to the door when he heard Shawn say, "Excuse me! But who's the parrot now! I can't wait to tell everybody this."

"And who the hell are you going to tell?! I'm the only one who can hear you, remember?" Carlton snapped.

"Uh Lassie? Neighbor at 4 o'clock."

Carlton looked over and saw old Miss Singleton looking at him through her window, a very concerned and worried look on her face. Carlton gave her a slight small and wave, which she hesitantly returned.

Rubbing his neck, he continued walking and noticed a container sitting innocently on his welcome mat.

"What's that?" Shawn asked.

"How the hell should I know," Carlton mumbled as he picked it up and opened the lid. "Looks like chocolate cake with vanilla icing."

"Some mysterious person is leaving baked goods at your door. Lassie! You have a secret admirer!" Shawn was giddy for a moment before becoming somewhat serious. "Wait, you can't have a secret admirer, I already claimed that position! Who dares to send you treats?!"

Carlton shook his head as he unlocked and opened the door. "It's not a secret admirer."

"Then who is it? Don't tell me that you're dating someone! Do I have competition? Because I totally saw you first! Should I be worried? Tell me who they are, Lassie, so I can go kick their ass!"

"First of all, you have no claim to me whatsoever, so stop with that bullshit right now!" Carlton snapped as he went into the kitchen and put the container on the counter. He opened his fridge, trying to find something to eat, but nothing looked very appetizing.

"Wow, Lassie. You sure know how to kick a guy when he's down." Shawn said, sounding rejected.

Sitting down at the table, Carlton put his face in his hands and mumbled, "I'm sorry, but we've been through this several times. I'm not comfortable with this, any of this. Especially when you keep talking about your feelings for me. I told you that I need time to think."

"Okay."

When Shawn did not say anything else for over a minute, Carlton looked up towards where he thought Shawn was and asked, "Shawn?"

"Hey, what was the other thing?"

"What?" Carlton frowned.

"You were like 'first of all, you have no claim to me blah, blah, blah.' When people say 'first of all,' there's usually a second of all. So what is it?"

Carlton shrugged and pulled out his phone. "Oh, um... The food, some of the officer's wives think that I need to gain weight, so they've coordinated some meal train. As far as I can tell, it's led by McNab's wife, and you know how persuasive she can be."

"Oh yeah, I've been on the receiving end of Francie's ministrations before. Oh man. I just realized, once I get out of the hospital, I'm gonna have a whole army making sure I'm alright. I probably won't get a moment's peace for months!"

"Good luck with that," Carlton chuckled as he scrolled through his contacts.

"Hey, whatcha doing?"

"Trying to decide if I want pizza or Chinese."

"Oh! How about both?"

Carlton raised an eyebrow at him. "Why do you care? You can't have any."

"Sadly, that is true. But, if you get both, then you'll have plenty of leftovers and I can also learn what you like!"

Shaking his head, Carlton randomly picked a number and dialed. Checking his choice, he waited for the other person to answer. "Yeah, I'd like to place an order for delivery."


	28. Chapter 28

_ CHAPTER 28 _

Carlton turned a baseball game on while he waited for his food to arrive. Since Shawn had nothing else he could do, he decided to provide a running commentary about the game, players, weather; whatever came to mind. After a few minutes, Shawn noticed that Carlton was tuning him out and, within 10 minutes, had fallen asleep.

"Aw, poor Lassie! You're so cute when you're sleeping." Shawn sighed as he leaned back into the couch. Without a somewhat attentive audience, there was no point in his ramblings. He turned so he could analyze Carlton better. The past week was definitely affecting him: he seemed a little paler, had more stress lines on his face, and, if Shawn was not mistaken, had a little more gray in his hair, which needed to be cut.

Shawn honestly did not know why he was still here. Maybe there was something that needed to be done, that Carlton could not do without his help. But what was it? Shawn already prevented Carlton from getting slammed into by another car today; but he might not have even been at that intersection if he had been at work instead.

Carlton shifted in his sleep and his head fell towards Shawn, some hair falling across his forehead. Very slowly, Shawn moved the hair back into place, pleased when Carlton did not react to the action. Moving closer, Shawn carefully traced the curves of Carlton's face and watched as Carlton smiled slightly. Deciding to go with his gut, Shawn leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on Carlton's lips.

Shawn jumped back when the doorbell rang. Laughing, he looked over to see that Carlton was still sleeping. "Wow, he must be really tired. Lassie? Lassie! LASSIE!" Getting no response, Shawn glanced at the door when the guy knocked and rang the door again. "Sorry Lassie, but this is all your fault." Pulling his hand back, Shawn slapped Carlton on the cheek.

"What?!" Carlton snapped, hand going for where his holster usually sat.

"Dude, doorbell. Your food is here." Shawn said, moving back.

Right on cue, the doorbell rang again followed by a voice: "Hello? I'm about 2 seconds away from leaving."

Getting up quickly, Carlton called, "Yeah, hang on." He almost tripped on his shoes in his haste, and Shawn could not stop the chuckle that escaped. Carlton sent a glare at the couch before opening the door. "Sorry about that."

"Lucky for you there's still an hour before the dinner rush, or else I would have left after a minute."

"Shouldn't you have tried calling me first?" Carlton asked as he pulled out his wallet.

"I could have, but I forgot my phone in my car. It's charging right now. Anyways, here you go: One large all meat pizza, garlic bread, and a Caesar salad. That'll be $34.68."

Carlton shook his head as he pulled out two 20 dollar bills. "Keep the change."

"Oh, thank you very much sir!" The guy said enthusiastically as he handed over Carlton's order and pocketed the cash. "Have a nice day."

"Thanks." He mumbled before stepping back inside and slamming the door.

"Oh, yeah! Pizza! Can I have some?" Shawn asked as he bounced on the couch.

Carlton frowned as he sat down. "And how exactly would you eat it?"

"I don't know, I haven't figured that part out yet. Hmmm, can you save me some?"

"No! For the first time in quite a few days, I'm actually hungry. I might even finish everything today."

"Seriously? That's something I would do. I bet you can't finish half of that in the next hour!" Shawn crossed his arms and looked on defiantly.

Carlton rolled his eyes as he picked up his first slice. "I never said I would finish it in one sitting. It's barely 4 o'clock and between now and 10, I'll probably finish a little more than half."

"Okay, fine. Why did you get salad? It's such a sissy food."

"I actually like salad, at least Caesar salad. Not the puny house salads that most places have without many vegetables and tons of dressing."

"I don't think I've ever had a salad in my life that had lettuce as the main ingredient."

Carlton frowned as he chewed his pizza. "What types of salad have you had?"

"Well, mainly fruit salads, but they had to have tons of pineapple. I've, on occasion, have had pasta and egg salad, but only because a date made it for dinner and I was being polite."

"What if they served you regular salad?"

"Then I would push it away until they were done eating and ask about the main dish." Shawn sighed as Carlton took another bite. "Mmm, that does look really good, even if it doesn't have pineapples on it. *Sigh* I miss pineapple."

Carlton chuckled as he grabbed a piece of garlic bread.

* * *

Once Carlton was done eating and put the leftovers in the fridge, which turned out to be two thirds of the pizza, most of the garlic bread and none of the salad; he started going through the papers on the coffee table.

After a few minutes, Shawn asked, "What are you looking for?"

"My notepad. I could have sworn it was in here! Maybe I left it at the station."

"Wouldn't it be in the dining room with all the maps you knocked on the floor?"

Carlton froze. "...Possibly..."

Shawn laughed, "Oh silly Lassie, I could just kiss you sometimes! In fact..."

"No, don't you dare!"

"Why not?" Shawn pouted.

"Well, for one, it's inappropriate and, um..."

"And what? You can't leave me hanging! Again!"

"And, ah, it's a..." Carlton fidgeted nervously.

"It's what? Come on, cat's got your tongue? Because I would gladly fight that feline tooth and nail, or claw, for it."

"Because it would be unfair!" He snapped, his ears turning a bright red as he stood up.

They stood in an awkward silence for a few minutes until Shawn asked brightly, "And why would that be?"

"You know why." Carlton muttered as he went into the dining room and started looking through the papers on the floor.

"No, Lassie, I actually don't. Why don't you explain it to me?" Shawn leaned on the table, a giant grin on his face.

"No." Picking up his notepad, he added, "We need to discuss some rules."

"Rules? Why do we need rules? Rules are for squares."

"I love rules. They keep the world intact."

Shawn moaned and reluctantly followed Carlton back into the living room. "If anything, they make some people feel like they're in charge while others purposely break them."

"I'm guessing you are in the latter category then."

"Actually, I'm in the third category; the ones who find their way around the rules."

"So you're admitting to breaking the law?"

"No, to finding the loopholes. Keep up Lassie."

"Well, this is my house and I'm establishing some rules, so you will abide by them."

"And what if I don't or I find the loopholes?" Shawn asked stubbornly and crossed his arms.

"Then you can go hang out at the hospital with your body and father and I won't see or speak to you again until after you are in your own body again and have been cleared for work. That has to be, what, at least a few months until your bones heal."

"Oo, you drive a hard bargain, Lassie."

"I know how to get what I want." Carlton smiled in Shawn's direction.

Shawn swayed back and forth as he thought before finally sighing, "Fine, I'll agree only if they are reasonable."

"Good." Carlton picked up his pen and started writing. "Rule #1: You must keep at least a 5 foot space between us at all times."

"5 feet?! That's totally unreasonable!" Shawn collapsed on the couch with a groan. "What about when we are in a car or elevator, hmm?"

"Fine then. 5 feet or as far as able. Rule #2: No purposely distracting me or making me look like an idiot in front of others."

"Gah, Lassie! Why do you have to take the fun out of everything?!"

"Rule #3: No sexual comments or advances; no matter how joking in nature you are."

"I'm gonna be so sexually frustrated by the end of this experience." Shawn watched with satisfaction as Carlton tucked his head and his ears turned red again.

"Rule #4: No waking me up or distracting me from work just because you are 'bored'. If you would like to have a civilized conversation at times that are good for me, then fine."

"What if something funny is about to happen?"

"I don't care."

"What if something tragic is about to happen?"

Carlton frowned as he thought about it. "Only if it is really important and will not piss me off."

"Good! What's next?"

"I think that's all, for now."

"Okay. So, more baseball?"

Carlton shook his head as he got up. "I'm taking a shower. And don't you dare follow me!"

"Oh, come on Lassie! That would totally be breaking rule #1 and possible #3."

"Exactly!" Carlton shouted as he closed his bedroom door.

Shawn sighed as he looked back at the television. "Why do you have to be such a killjoy all the time, Lassie?"


	29. Chapter 29

_ CHAPTER 29 _

After his shower, Carlton turned on one of his favorite Eastwood movies and started to relax. About halfway through, he was startled by his phone. Ignoring Shawn's snicker, he grabbed the phone off the coffee table and groaned when he saw Juliet's name on the caller id.

"Who is it?" Shawn asked.

Carlton sent him a glare as he answered, "Lassiter."

_ "Hey Carlton. How was your day?" _

He rolled his eyes at the seemingly innocent question. "It was fine."

_ "Oh good! So, are you busy?" _

"What if I said yes?"

_ "I would call BS." _

Carlton took a deep breath, "Then no, I'm not. Just watching a movie."

_ "So you wouldn't mind if I came over with some food?" _

"I guess not."

_ "Good. I'm at a sandwich shop right now. What would you like?" _

"I don't know, surprise me."

_ "I thought you didn't like surprises?" _

"I don't; today, I just don't care."

_ "Okay. I'll be over in 20." _

"Fine." Carlton sighed as he hung up and rubbed his forehead.

"So, was that Jules?" Shawn asked.

"Yes."

"And she's bringing you food?"

"Apparently."

"Hmm, okay. Do you want me to leave?"

Carlton frowned in Shawn's direction. "Why?"

"Well, so you can, you know, talk about partner-y things or whatever."

Carlton scoffed. "She probably wants to find out what's been going on with me and what I told the Chief."

"Oh. Are you going to tell her?"

"I don't know. Maybe. The chief wants me to, but I'm not sure."

"Why not?"

"Because she'll ask a whole bunch of questions and will want to talk to you."

"Oh, I see. So, do you want me to stick around or not?"

Carlton rubbed his face as he thought. "I don't know, are you going to be quiet and respect the rules?"

"Maybe. It depends on how interesting or boring the conversation is."

"Do what you want, just don't distract me or make me look insane." Carlton said as he resumed the movie.

"Okie dokie."

They sat in silence for a few minutes until Carlton asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm practicing being quiet."

Carlton scoffed as he turned up the TV volume. "Only you would need to practice that."

* * *

Barely 17 minutes after he had hung up with her, Juliet knocked on the door. With a sigh, Carlton muted the television and went to let her in.

"Hey Carlton!" 

He grunted as he held the door open. 

"I got you a turkey sandwich, I hope that's ok."

"It's fine." Carlton commented as he shut the door behind her. "Did you want something to drink?"

"Sure, what do you got?"

"Um…" He leaned against the doorway as he thought, "water, coffee, beer..."

"Carlton! I told you to stop drinking!"

"I haven't had anything to drink today, I was just offering."

"Today? What about yesterday?"

"It's none of your damn business!" Carlton crossed his arms.

"Carlton!"

"O'Hara!"

"Lassie!"

Carlton barely contained his growl as he glanced in Shawn's direction. "What?!" He snapped at both of them.

"I'm just trying to help!" Juliet replied at the same time Shawn said, "Dude, you do not want to get on her bad side, believe me. It may be kind of hot but she is a force to be reckoned with."

"I'm sorry." Carlton took a deep breath before saying somewhat calmly. "I'm just tired."

Juliet looked at him long and hard before saying. "Fine. I'll take water."

Carlton nodded as he went into the kitchen.

As he grabbed a glass, Shawn asked, "Dude, why are you being so mean to her?"

"It's none of your business either," Carlton whispered.

"I'm just trying to help."

"Well stop it!" Carlton snapped, putting the glass under the faucet.

"Carlton?" Juliet asked as she entered the kitchen and looked around. "Who are you talking to?"

"Yeah Carly, who are you talking to?" Shawn mocked.

Carlton growled as he turned off the water. "Nobody."

Juliet frowned, "O-kay."

"Oh, haha, nobody." Shawn laughed. "Like no body. I get it." 

"Here," Carlton handed her the glass and started the coffee maker.

Juliet watched him as they went back into the living room. Carlton sat on the couch, grabbed his food and opened it. She sat down on the armchair and started eating as well. 

After a few minutes of silence, Shawn commented, "Well, this is awkward."

Carlton grunted in agreement, which unfortunately got Juliet's attention. Putting her sandwich down, she asked, "So, what have you been up to lately?"

"Nothing much." He replied, trying to avoid the subject for as long as possible.

"Come on, I know you too well. You are not one to sit on the couch, watching movies all day long."

"Of course not, Jules! He was watching a baseball game earlier." Shawn added happily.

Carlton rolled his eyes but refused to respond.

Juliet reached over and placed a hand on his knee, stilling his movements. "Carlton? Please talk to me."

Carlton sighed as he put down his food. "If you promise not to make a big deal out of it, I will tell you."

"Really?!" Juliet asked hopefully as Shawn asked the same thing with disbelief.

"Yes," Leaning forward, Carlton clasped his hands together. After a minute, he said, "I may have been talking with Spencer."

"What, like visiting the hospital and talking to him? Because I've done that too."

"No. I've been talking to him… and he's been talking back."

She frowned and shook her head, "Wait, I'm confused. How can he be talking to you if he's in the hospital and practically in a coma?"

"I don't know but he's also…" Carlton paused, not sure how to go on, or even if he should.

"He is also what? Carlton, what is going on?!"

"Ooo, she's starting to give you the crazy look!" Shawn warned.

Carlton sighed, figuring that he could give her a version of the truth. "He's been talking to me…psychically."

"Psychically?" Juliet looked at him skeptically.

"Going the psychic route, Lassie? Really?! That's beneath you. I thought you didn't even believe I was psychic!" Shawn rattled on.

Carlton sent him a glare before saying, "Yes. He told me what happened and where to find his bike."

She stared at him, trying to figure out if he was lying. Finally, she said, "Wow, Carlton. I had no idea. Wait, why did Shawn come to you instead of me or Gus or his father? You can barely stand him!"

"I've been asking that question all week."

"Can you talk to him now?"

Carlton paused. He knew where Juliet was going and he really did not want to go there. "No…?"

"Carlton!"

"Yes, okay? I can still hear him from time to time, and he's being just as much of a pain in the ass as before he got kidnapped or ran away or whatever!" He snapped.

"Oh," Juliet said in a small voice.

They sat in silence for a few seconds until Shawn said, "Ask her what she's thinking about." Carlton frowned as he looked in Shawn's direction. Shawn sighed, "She's clearly thinking something over, so ask her!"

"What," he coughed, "What's wrong?"

"I was just…wondering. Why is he still talking to you? He has been found and is safe in the hospital; so he should just wake up, stop having people worry over him."

"I've tried telling him that, more or less, but he doesn't know either. He apparently doesn't know much."

"Hey! I resent that! I know tons of things about pineapples, 80's trivia …"

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Juliet asked, unknowingly cutting off Shawn. "I could have helped or something."

Carlton sighed, "Because I was afraid that I was going crazy or nobody would believe me, especially since I didn't believe it myself. I was only really convinced after I found his bike."

"Oh." Juliet looked down and sniffled, running a hand across her cheek.

"Dude, she's gonna cry!" Shawn said quietly. "Comfort her or something!"

Carlton turned towards him with wide eyes and mouthed, 'No, be quiet.'

"Lassie! You can't throw all this on her and expect her to be okay with it, even if it is only half-true! You've overwhelmed her and she doesn't know what to think. Now comfort her!"

Carlton sighed as he turned back to Juliet. Hesitantly, he placed a hand on her shoulder and she looked at it with a frown. "Are you, um, okay?" Carlton asked nervously.

Juliet looked at Carlton before nodding, "Yeah. It's just a lot to take in. To think, Shawn has been in some sort of contact with someone and we never even noticed! It's amazing."

Carlton snorted as he got up. "Yeah, amazing." Shaking his head, he went into the kitchen. He got a mug down and was about to fill it with coffee when Juliet came in, a contemplative look in her face. "What?" he asked.

"When was the first time you heard from him?"

"I don't know, sometime Monday, I guess."

"And he didn't tell you what happened then?"

"No, he didn't know what was happening either. He couldn't even remember half of the day he left."

"Hmm," Juliet started playing with her hair as she thought. Carlton left her to her thoughts as he added cream and sugar to his coffee.

"Were you ever going to tell me?" Juliet asked.

Carlton sighed as he leaned against the counter. "Not if I could help it."

"But you told the chief."

"I almost didn't because I was afraid of the consequences. But I needed to tell someone, and she needed an explanation on how I found Spencer in the first place."

Juliet nodded and went over to the fridge. He watched as she pulled out a beer and proceeded to open and drink it. She drank about half of the bottle in one take before lowering it and shaking her head at the sudden buzz.

"Oh Lassie, I don't think I've ever seen her drink that fast." Shawn commented from the doorway.

"Are you okay?" Carlton asked.

Juliet laughed slightly, sounding a bit hysterical, as she answered, "I can understand why you were drinking so much this week. And your breakdown Tuesday night makes sense now."

"Do you need me to drive you home or something?"

"No, it's okay. I'm supposed to meet Gus in a half hour for coffee so he can give me an update on Shawn." She laughed. "Although it seems that you would be the better source."

"Please don't tell Guster," Carlton pleaded.

"Why not? He is Shawn's best friend!"

"Because I don't need anymore people knowing or giving me strange looks! Does it even really matter now? Spencer is at the hospital and slowly getting better."

"But he hasn't woken up yet!"

"I know that but talking with Spencer through me isn't going to help anyone!" Carlton yelled. There was silence for a few seconds before he sighed and said, "I'm sorry. This is just…too much. I don't know why Spencer picked me, but there must have been a reason. Maybe I am the only one who could distance themselves or something, which I haven't been very successful at." Carlton blushed slightly and ignored Juliet's frown as he continued. "If Spencer doesn't wake up by the end of the weekend, then you can tell Guster, and maybe all of us can try and figure this out."

Juliet nodded as she put her empty bottle on the counter. "Okay Carlton. If he's not awake by Sunday night, I'm going to call a meeting between everyone for Monday afternoon at the hospital, and we will try everything we can think of, okay?"

Carlton nodded as he looked down into his empty mug.

"Hey," Juliet said quietly, causing Carlton to look up. "I'm glad that Shawn hasn't been completely alone and that you were able to find him. We all appreciate it."

Carlton nodded.

"Well, I should get going. Give Shawn my best and I'll see you soon. Maybe we can go visit Shawn in the hospital on Saturday."

"Yeah, sure."

With a smile, she patted his arm. "Good night Carlton. And remember, I'm here if you want to talk."

"Okay." Carlton watched from the doorway as Juliet grabbed her purse and sandwich before letting herself out with a wave.

With a sigh, he went to refill his mug, jumping slightly when Shawn said, "Huh, that went differently than I thought it would."

Carlton grunted, "Me too."

"I didn't think you would go the whole psychic route."

"Well, it was easier than trying to explain how you are sort of here and I can feel you at times, and once actually saw an outline of you."

"True. So, what else should we watch tonight?"

Carlton sighed as he went back into the living room.


	30. Chapter 30

_ CHAPTER 30 _

The next morning, Carlton woke up at his regular time and decided to go to work. He was eager to go back, for he was not one to sit idly at home for days at a time. He got dressed, ate breakfast, and checked his messages, all while ignoring Shawn's comments that Karen and Juliet would not want him at the station.

When he arrived at the station, he got plenty of strange looks, but he ignored them, like he was trying to ignore Shawn. Carlton found the latter task to be much harder since he could not always tell where Shawn was. Shawn mostly kept to the rules, although from time to time Carlton would hear humming or random comments about a case file he was working on.

During his lunch break, Shawn seemed to ramble on and on about what Carlton had missed, like certain people coming and going, Buzz tripping over his own feet and spilling coffee everywhere, and Gus stopped by before heading to work. Carlton heard a hint of melancholy when Shawn mentioned Gus, but decided not to say anything.

It was only 1:30 when Karen called him into her office. "You wanted to see me Chief?"

"Close the door Carlton."

He quickly complied, ignoring Shawn's "Oo, is this a secret meeting? I love secrets!" and stood in front of the desk.

"I have your statement ready, if you wouldn't mind looking it over."

"Of course." Carlton took the offered paper and sat down to read it. It was definitely paraphrased; skipping over important details, yet still told enough that someone not directly involved with the case, like Internal Affairs, would not notice the gaps.

"So, what does it say Lassie? Does it show how crazy you are?"

Carlton glared over his shoulder in Shawn's direction before he took out his pen and signed it. "Thank you Chief."

"Don't worry about it." She smiled as she accepted the paper back. "From your behavior this morning and right now, I'm guessing that Mr. Spencer is still hanging around?"

Seeing the smirk she was trying to hide, Carlton folded his arms and grumbled, "Yes, and he still won't shut the hell up."

"Hey! What else am I supposed to do? I'm bored out of my mind! No pun intended." Carlton paled slightly at Shawn's words.

"Carlton, are you okay?" Karen asked, leaning forward slightly.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"No you are not, Lassie! You need to stop lying to people, especially the chief. I mean, she does have control over your paycheck and can make you talk to a shrink."

Carlton whipped around and glared at Shawn. "Will you shut the hell up?! You are not helping!"

"Carlton!" Karen snapped, concern evident on her face.

"Oh, you did it now!" Shawn said with glee.

"I think it's time you go home."

"Chief, I still have over 3 hours." Carlton tried to protest.

Karen shook her head. "But you have only done about 2 hours worth of work. You are clearly distracted by...recent events. If you feel like it, you can come in for half a day tomorrow but then take Sunday off. And I want you to let me know if circumstances change."

Carlton sighed, "Okay."

"Good. You are dismissed."

Carlton suddenly felt very tired, both physically and mentally, as he got up and went to the door.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Shawn asked happily.

"WE are not doing anything!" Carlton grumbled as he reached for the doorknob.

Before he could open it, Karen said, "Wait a second!"

"Uh oh, what did you do Lassie?"

"Yes chief?" Carlton asked warily.

"I would like to 'talk' to Shawn alone."

Carlton simply raised an eyebrow while Shawn exclaimed, "Me?! But she can't even hear me! Can she?"

Karen smiled slightly, "I know that I can't hear Mr. Spencer, but I have some things I need to say to him nonetheless."

"Fine!" Shawn sighed. "Be sure to wait for me, Lassie."

Carlton scoffed. "I'm not waiting for you, Spencer. Have fun."

Once Carlton shut the door, Shawn nervously walked over to the desk. "So, what's up doc? I mean, Chief."

Karen waited until Carlton had collected his things and made his way to the door before sighing. "I really hope you are here Shawn, for I feel silly enough talking to you when I can't see you; it would be even worse if I'm just talking to myself."

"Don't worry, Chief, I am totally here."

"I know this must be a very... Stressful time for you, but you must also keep Carlton in mind."

Shawn frowned. "I'm hanging out with him most of the time, so he's pretty much always on my mind."

"Think of it from Carlton's perspective. He was raised Irish Catholic and is a very logical thinker; evidenced in particular by his lack of belief in psychics."

"I doubt those are the only reasons."

"He is having a hard time accepting whatever is going on."

"As I've seen."

"So much so, I'm afraid that he's going to have a serious mental breakdown."

"What? No way, not Lassie!"

"Juliet already told me about Tuesday night."

Shawn frowned and took a step closer. "What happened Tuesday?"

"So I need you to take it easy on him, and if he seems to be heading for a breakdown, try to calm him down. Same with the drinking. We don't want that to become a problem."

"Of course not."

Karen sighed. "I really wish you are here, Shawn, or else we have a much more serious problem." She looked around the room. "You're dismissed."

Nodding his head, Shawn quickly ran from the office, missing Karen's words: "I don't know which is better, Shawn being able to watch Carlton, or Shawn waking up so he can stop annoying him."

Shawn was halfway across the parking lot when he noticed Carlton's car was still in the parking lot. Stopping, he wondered, "Now where could Lassie have gone?" Not seeing Carlton in the immediate vicinity, Shawn started listing all the places that were nearby. "Well, there's the coffee shop, donut place, jerk chicken, smoothie joint, pizza, other coffee shop, -wow, there's a lot of food places, they must know that cops love fast food- book store, bar, clothing store, fitness center, joke shop...Wait, this is Lassie I'm talking about. He would have gone to one of three places: a bar, the fitness center, or the gun range. Duh!"

Shaking his head, Shawn jogged over to the gun range. Since Lassie had gone to the gym the day before, evidenced by the sweaty clothes he had been wearing, and the chief told him to stop drinking, that only left one option. Going through the side door that opened into the hallway to the gun range, it was not hard to figure out that someone was using the range to blow off steam. By the time Shawn was standing about five feet away from him, Carlton had shot over 20 rounds, that Shawn had heard.

Waiting until Carlton ran out of ammo, Shawn slowly walked up to him and yelled, "HEY LASSIE!"

Carlton sighed as he lowered his gun and took out an earplug. "What do you want Spencer?"

"I was just wondering how you were doing."

Carlton scoffed as he called the paper over and started packing up. "How do you think I'm doing? I got kicked out of the station for the second time this week, all because of you."

"Hey!" Shawn put his hands up defensively. "It's not my fault! You can't blame this all on me."

"Yes I can! You are the one who left; you are the one who appeared to me; and you are the one who is in a coma and still bugging me!" Carlton put his gun in his holster, a bit forcefully, and made for the exit.

Shawn jogged after him. "Come on! We have been through this a million times! I have no control over anything! Where I am, who can hear me, my feelings for you..."

"No! Don't you dare start that again!" Carlton snapped, exiting the building.

"Why not? It's a very relevant topic."

Carlton growled but, since there were other officers around, and they were already giving him strange looks, he refused to say anything. 

Once they were in the car and Carlton was buckled, Shawn asked, "Well?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Carlton said as he turned on the engine.

Before he could put the car into drive, Shawn moved over and captured Carlton's lips. Carlton closed his eyes and resisted the urge to kiss back. After a minute, Shawn pulled back and said, "Why are you being so difficult? Just kiss me back! I know you can."

Carlton growled, "Get. Off. Of. Me!"

Shawn sighed and slid back to the passenger seat. "Gah! You're such a broken record!"

"I'm the broken record!" Carlton snapped as he put the car into gear and finally pulled out of the parking lot. "You're the one who keeps trying the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result! Most people call that stupidity."

"Hey! Don't call me stupid!"

"I didn't call you stupid, just that your actions were of a stupid nature. But hey, if the shoe fits."

"Technically, you did kiss me back once, and then initiated another one."

Carlton blushed and rubbed his neck. "Yeah, well... It was a very stressful situation for the both of us."

"This is also a stressful situation! I am becoming very sexually frustrated by all of your refusals."

"How many times do I have to tell you, you're not really here!"

"And how many times do I have to tell you that, mentally, I am! And since sexual frustration is a mental thing..."

"Don't you mean Psychological?"

"I've heard it both ways."

"Sure you have," Carlton rolled his eyes.

"As I was saying, it's a mental thing, so what we do here should fix it."

"If it's mental, then you should be able to fix it all on your own."

"But it's more fun with other people!"

Carlton groaned as they pulled into his driveway. "I'm not having this conversation with you!"

"Why not? Ah! You'd rather have it with Jules?" Carlton just shook his head as he got out of the car, Shawn quick to follow. "That's it, isn't it? You trust her way more than you trust me. Oh, the betrayal! I thought you guys weren't that close, or at least you aren't that open with each other."

"I'm not and no, I wouldn't want to have that conversation with O'Hara either. She meddles enough in my life; I don't need her to go all school girl on me." Carlton unlocked the door and led the way inside.

"School girl?"

"Yeah, you know. Getting all hyperactive and excited over things. My younger sister used to do it all the time."

Shawn tilted his head at that news. "I didn't know you had a sister."

"There's a lot of things you don't know about me, especially, as you pointed out, since I'm not open with people."

"What else are you hiding? Do you have any more siblings? My guess would be that you have at least an older sister, since you said younger sister. And you definitely seem like a middle child, always trying to prove yourself and be the best while silently rooting for the underdog."

Carlton paused as he was about to get a glass of water. "You're not really psychic, are you?"

"What? Where did that come from?" Shawn tried to laugh it off but knew a hint of nervousness was heard.

"By the way you just gathered all the evidence and connected the dots. You're not psychic, just a really good detective. Even better than me." Carlton collapsed on a chair. "Wow. It all makes sense now. Well, most of it anyways. I still don't know how you knew it was a dinosaur."

"Pssh, Lassie. You are so off base, you're not even in the ballpark, not even the same state as the ballpark."

Carlton frowned as he looked at Shawn. "How do you do it?"

"I'm psychic, duh!"

"No you are not! Now tell me, dammit!"

"No! You don't believe me."

"Spencer!" Carlton growled.

"You know what, I don't need this. I'm gonna hang out with my dad."

"Spencer!"

"Bye Lassie," Shawn said with a grin as he concentrated with all his might on his hospital room. Luckily, it did not take too long before he found himself looking at himself on the bed.


	31. Chapter 31

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm not totally okay with how I've "portrayed" Shawn's mom in this chapter. I mean, I think she does care about Shawn a lot, she just forgets to show it, or lets her work take higher priority if Shawn isn't in immediate danger... something like that. 
> 
> The second note is that the minor characters who show up in this were totally unexpected and I never intended to use them at all.
> 
> Enjoy!

_ CHAPTER 31 _

Shawn sighed as he looked around the hospital room. His dad was asleep and the television was playing a fishing program. There were a few cards and balloons in the corner of the room and a pineapple with a bow on the cabinet. Shawn smiled when he noticed it was from Buzz.

After spending 5 minutes looking at the cards, Shawn was officially bored. He glanced at the clock. "Hmm, almost 3. That means the after school and work visitation rush should be starting. Perfect time to people-watch." Nodding to himself, Shawn headed out into the hallway.

It was not too crowded, but he still had to be careful not to walk into anyone or bump into things. The hospital was medium sized, with maybe five floors and hundreds of corridors, almost all painted an off-white color. If it was not for his photographic memory, he would have easily gotten lost.

Around the time he was thinking about heading back to his room, Shawn came across someone pacing back and forth in front of an Operating Room. The guy kept looking through the doors as if contemplating whether or not to go in. None of the hospital staff seemed to pay any attention to him, even though they were in an "authorized personnel only" area.

Shawn watched as the man started grabbing at his arm, his movements becoming more agitated. "Dude, maybe you should get some help." Shawn commented off-handedly.

The man suddenly turned his wide, scared eyes on Shawn and whispered "Help me!" before he fell to the ground and withered in pain.

Without much thought, Shawn hurried over, "Dude! How can you see me?"

"What are you...talking about?" the guy asked as his breathing increased.

Shawn tried to put a hand on the guy, but he passed right through. "Dude, you're not really here either!"

"Yes...I...am..."

Shawn looked around to see if anyone else could see them, when he noticed the flurried activity in the Operating Room. It only took Shawn a second to decide to go inside and check it out. There was blood everywhere and everyone seemed to be giving orders.

"We need more type specific!"

"More gauze!"

"Sir, toxicology called! Among all the drugs in his system, there were large amounts of vicodin and heparin."

"That would explain why the blood isn't clotting. If only it was cutting or drugs, not both."

The main doctor sighed, "I'm calling it! Time of death: 3:25pm. Such a shame."

"This guy sure knew what he was doing."

"Too bad the roommate didn't get home a few minutes earlier."

"I don't think a few minutes would have made a difference."

Shawn froze as he finally got a look at the patient. It was the same guy who was outside the door. Shawn went back into the hallway and discovered that the guy was not there anymore. "Whoa." Shaking his head, Shawn went back through the halls, paying little mind to anyone else.

When he got back to his room, he found his dad awake and on the phone. Henry sighed, "I understand Maddie… Well, I don't think a couple of days will matter to Shawn since he hasn't woken up yet… Monday. Are you sure?… So, if he wakes up before then, I can tell him that you are definitely coming… Wednesday at the latest?… Okay… Yeah, I'll keep you informed… Goodnight Maddie." Henry lowered his phone as he looked at Shawn. "Sometimes I wish she would get her priorities straight, kid. At least for your sake."

Shawn looked down and shrugged, "Yeah, me too."

Henry looked at the clock. "Gus should be leaving work soon, which means we have at least another 2 hours before he gets here. How about we watch COPS?"

Shawn rolled his eyes. "Wow dad. It seems like nowadays, all you ever watch on TV is fishing, poker, and C.O.P.S.."

Henry chuckled as he found the right channel. "You better wake up soon kid, or even I might get tired of watching COPS. Especially since it seems to be on most of the day."

"Believe me, dad. I would wake up if I could." Shawn sighed as he collapsed into an unoccupied chair.

* * *

  
  


When Shawn did not come back right away, Carlton decided he should do some house work since he had been neglecting it the past couple of weeks. After putting a load of laundry in the washer, he went into the kitchen, only to discover he did not have plates since he smashed all of them earlier in the week. With a sigh, he grabbed his coat and keys and headed for the nearest department store.

He found the household goods section easily enough and proceeded to stare down his choices. The plates were white, orange, blue, big, small, round, square, china, porcelain. Some had patterns near the edges while others had patterns in the middle or covering the whole thing. Needless to say, Carlton felt overwhelmed.

He found the plain white dishes and grabbed a set that were dishwasher safe, before looking back at the shelf. How many should he get? He hardly ever had company, and when he did, there were hardly ever more than one or two people. Since he only ran his dishwasher once a week, he decided to just get two four-packs.

As he looked for a register, he turned a corner a little too quickly and hit another cart. "Sorry," he mumbled as he moved his cart out of the way.

"Oh, it's okay. I should of...Carl?"

Carlton looked up to see one of the last people he would have expected. "Victoria." Carlton greeted as he looked her over. She had an engagement ring and looked about 5 or 6 months pregnant.

"Oh, what are the odds? I was just thinking about you!"

"Really?" Carlton asked skeptically.

She chuckled slightly and placed a hand on her stomach. "Yes. As you can tell, I am engaged and pregnant. So I was wondering if you've gotten the chance to look over the divorce papers I sent you a couple of weeks ago."

"Yeah I got them." Carlton crossed his arms defensively.

"So, are you going to sign them?"

"I'm thinking about it."

Victoria sighed and moved forward to place a hand on his arm. "Carl, we were never going to work it out; we drifted too far apart. Even when we separated 4 years ago, it was a useless measure. Holding on is only hurting the both of us, and soon it will affect a third and fourth. If I have to, I will take you to court to get a divorce, but I do not want to. If you read the papers, you will see that I don't want anything except what is mine: my car, clothes and possessions. You can even have the porch swing back; I know you worked hard on it. Carl, please!"

Carlton looked down. He knew she was right and that there was no point in holding on. With a sigh, he looked up. "I will sign them this weekend. And you can keep the swing; think of it as a baby gift."

Victoria smiled. "Thank you, Carl. This means a lot to me." She kissed him on the cheek. "Just know that I will always love you, even if I am not in love with you. Good luck."

"Good bye." Carlton replied, as he watched her walk away.

She got barely ten feet away before she pulled out her phone and dialed. It must have been answered quickly because she excitedly said, "John?! It's Vicky… I have great news!… No, not that. I just ran into Carlton and he is going to sign the papers!… Yeah, didn't even put up a fight..."

Carlton shook his head and quickly found a register.

* * *

  
  


When Carlton got back to his house, his mind was still reeling from literally running into Victoria. She was pregnant and engaged and moving on with her life. She looked genuinely happy. And he seemed to be the only thing in her way.

Once inside, he marched over to his desk and pulled the envelope out of the lock box. The papers arrived hours before his mother was due and he did not want her to see them. She was still upset about being out of the loop about his separation; he did not want to get into a fight about a divorce. She did not believe in divorce, said it was against everything in the bible and that, one way or another, they could work it out. Her parting words were, "Be sure to give Victoria a call. I'm sure she would enjoy it."

Carlton looked at the papers. His life was depressing at the moment. He had no friends outside of work, doubtful that he had any friends at all besides Juliet; he never had a second date with anyone since before Lucinda; and his job was done by an insufferable fake psychic who apparently was just a better detective.

Carlton sat down at the table and started skimming the document. There was the regular legal talk, basically saying they were severing ties and that each party was to keep what they already had in possession at the moment. And since she was about to get remarried, she was not asking for alimony, even if her next marriage falls through. It was so straight forward. He grabbed a pen and quickly signed at all the places marked.

He looked the document over one more time before tossing it across the table and went to the fridge. His alcohol stock was running low, but he had enough to get drunk; maybe not passing-out-drunk, but definitely enough to get more than buzzed. He grabbed all of the bottles and found a comfortable spot on the couch. "How the hell did my life get so bad?" Carlton mumbled as he opened the first bottle.


	32. Chapter 32

_ CHAPTER 32 _

After the fourth episode of COPS, Shawn was having trouble thinking of things to do. He ran through all of his favorite movie quotes (first by movie release date, then by main character's name); his favorite pineapple recipes; songs he could hum throughout the day to annoy Carlton; and, for some strange reason, counted every Hawaiian shirt his dad owned. He came up with about 43, that he has seen; who knows how many he has missed over the years.

Shawn was just thinking of various pranks he could do to his dad as payback for all these COPS episodes, when Gus walked into the room. "Gus!" Shawn exclaimed. "Oh, I am so glad to see you buddy!"

"Hello Gus," Henry greeted as he turned off the TV and stretched.

"Hey, Mr. Spencer." Gus replied as he set his briefcase and coat by the door. "Any change?"

"His fever is almost gone, but otherwise nothing."

Gus nodded as he looked at the bed. "For someone who is so impatient, he sure is making us wait."

"Hey!" Shawn shouted as Henry chuckled, "That's Shawn for you."

Gus smiled before sighing, "I miss my best friend."

"We all miss him, Gus." Henry got up and patted Gus on the shoulder. "Just give him time. He can be as stubborn as a mule sometimes, but he won't let you down. You mean too much to him."

"Wow, thanks for making me feel worse, dad." Shawn mumbled as he looked down at the floor.

"Thanks." Gus smiled slightly and brushed a stray tear away.

Henry grunted as he grabbed his coat. "I'm going to find someplace to take a shower and get some dinner. I should be back in an hour or two."

"Okay, Mr. Spencer." Gus sat down in Henry's empty chair. Henry just nodded as he left, leaving the room in silence.

"Oh-kay, as much fun as this is, I think I prefer watching COPS over this awkward silence." Shawn said as he tapped out a rhythm on his leg.

Gus sighed, "Shawn, buddy. I know everyone keeps saying this, but we really need you to wake up. You are causing a whole bunch of stress on everybody, and while we are handling it okay right now, it will not be long before someone cracks. In fact, I think Lassiter already lost it a few days ago."

"So I've heard," Shawn mumbled as he got up and walked to the door.

"I tried to get some information out of Juliet, but she is just as much in the dark as I am. That is, until yesterday. Something happened when she talked with him and she seemed a little more hopeful. However, she is still keeping me in the dark, saying that if you do not wake up by Monday, she will tell me. I wish I had your persuasiveness so I could get her to open up." Gus looked down at his hands. "Have I told you that we're dating now?"

"What?!" Shawn asked. He had been half-listening to Gus as he watched the nurses and doctors pass by the door. "Dude, when did this happen?"

Gus chuckled lightly. "You will probably flip out after you wake up. But it was a very innocent and spur of the moment thing. We were both a bit emotionally drained and were trying to comfort each other. We agreed that, at least until we found you and then after you wake up, we would wait. But, I don't know. We have been spending more time together. Still very innocent things like pizza and movies. Just relaxing evenings together, nothing serious yet. I kind of want to bring it to the next level, but I also like where we are now, you know?" Gus laughed. "You would berate me for taking it so slow."

Shawn nodded, "Yeah, I would. If you could hear me right now, I would tell you that…" He frowned as a weird sensation came over him. He could not quite place it, but he got an overwhelming urge to visit Carlton. "Sorry Gus, but I gotta go. Rain check." Closing his eyes, Shawn concentrated on Carlton.

* * *

  
  


The first thing Shawn noticed was that Carlton's house was eerily quiet. Opening his eyes, Shawn found himself in the kitchen. "Lassie? Are you here?" Getting no response, he went into the living room and found it empty as well. "Here Lassie, here boy!" Shawn even tried whistling, but still did not get a response. He looked out the window. "Well, his car is still here. Hmm…"

Shawn went down the hallway and checked the guest bedroom and bathroom, both were empty. The door to the master bedroom was shut and Shawn figuratively held his breath as he slowly opened the door. Carlton was sitting in the middle of the floor, surrounded by crumpled up photos and holding a shoebox.

"Hey Lassie! What cha doing on the floor?" Shawn tried to ask casually.

Carlton snorted as he tossed the box aside. "Just trying to clean out the memories, but it doesn't seem to be working." He swayed slightly as he grabbed a half-empty bottle of beer and took a sip of it.

Shawn frowned as he took a closer look at some of the pictures. They mainly featured Victoria, while a few had Carlton as well. "Dude, what happened? I was barely gone…" Shawn tried to count it out before shaking his head, "It doesn't matter how long, but still. What happened?!"

Carlton seemed to be assessing Shawn before he said, "Went to the store since I broke all of my plates, and I ran into her. All 5 foot, 6 inches and 5 months pregnant of her. And she seemed happy, really happy, and I was the only thing standing in her way. So I thought, what the hell. I'll sign the damn papers since stalling would only cause us both grief, and I messed up her life enough already. Don't want to mess it up for her baby and husband number two. Just because I'm doomed to be miserable the rest of my life, does not mean that everyone else has to be, right? Right." Carlton nodded to himself as he took another sip.

Shawn sighed as he knelt down in front of Carlton. "Lassie, who says you have to be miserable? You are the only one who gets to decide that, and with me around, why would you want to?"

Carlton snorted. "Why would you want to be around me, anyways? I'm screwed up and everybody leaves me eventually. My dad, Emily, Lauren, Victoria, Lucinda. Everybody."

"Emily?"

"My high school girlfriend. Left me at the prom for the star quarterback. I had to go home alone and face the ridicule all the way through graduation. Even had to cancel my graduation party since only one friend would come. Wasn't even a good friend. I think the only reason he would have come was because his mom forced him."

"Aww, Lassie. I'm sorry. But I'm not like everybody else…"

"That's for sure." Carlton mumbled.

"I'm not going to leave you Lassie! Not tonight, not ever. Now come on, let's get you somewhat sober."

"I don't want to get sober. I want to stay blissfully drunk for the rest of my miserable life."

"But how are you going to do your job if you're drunk all the time? The chief would fire you within a day."

"They can get by without me. They've done alright this week."

"That's only because it was a slow crime week. Once things pick up again, they will be begging for you to come back, just you wait! And what about Jules? She still needs a partner that she can trust, one who knows she can take care of herself and who won't go out of their way to protect her just because she's a girl."

"I protect her."

"But in that 'they must learn to do things on their own and you'll be there if they get into it too deep' type of protection. Not the 'oh she's a girl so she can't handle herself' type of protection. If you don't go back, she'll be getting a new partner at least once a month before she's either forced onto paperwork duties or she transfers to a new department to try again and again before she is eventually forced into early retirement."

"That wouldn't happen."

"It could if you don't go back."

Carlton sighed as he looked at his almost empty bottle. "Why do you make sense when I don't care, but don't make sense when I want you to?"

"It's a gift."

"More like a curse." Carlton mumbled as he put the bottle down. "Fine. You win."

Shawn gasped in mock surprise. "What?! THE Detective Lassie is admitting that I win and he loses?! Where's the camera when you need it?"

"How would a photo be helpful?"

"Oh my dear Lassie, get with the times! Cameras today can do almost everything! Even make phone calls and bank deposits!"

Carlton shook his head as he slowly got up. "Why do I even ask?"

"Because humans are naturally curious. As are cats. But curiosity killed the cat; so maybe it's not a good thing to be curious. I don't know which cat it killed, or more specifically, who that cat was that got the designation of being THE cat. It must have been a really special cat since it got that title, but not too bright since curiosity killed it…"

"Oh god, just shut up already!" Carlton moaned.

"No can do, Lassie! I told you, I'm never gonna leave you. You're stuck with me and my insane ramblings, as some people call it, forever and ever!"

"I'm kind of jealous of that cat right now."

"Lassie! Did you just make another joke? Man, I really do need to get a camera!"

Carlton groaned as he left the room and slammed the door behind him.

"Hey! That was rude! Pointless but rude." Shawn replied as he opened the door and followed Carlton down the hall.


	33. Chapter 33

_ CHAPTER 33 _

Saturday went a little bit smoother than the day before. Carlton found it easier to ignore both Shawn and his coworkers, so he was getting reports done at his usual pace. Around 11:45, as Carlton tried to finish a report while ignoring Shawn's humming, Karen came over to his desk. "You can go home now, Carlton."

"Just as soon as I finish this report." He replied, a bit preoccupied with trying to remember a specific detail.

Before he knew it, the report was gone. He looked up to see Karen with her arms crossed, the report in her hand. "Detective, go home. Better yet, go to the hospital and visit Shawn."

"I don't see why I have to visit him."

"From what you've told me, I think you should have gone a few days ago."

"But Karen…" Carlton started, only to be cut off.

"Do I have to make it an order? Or call O'Hara and have her drive you?"

Carlton held back a growl as he replied, "No chief."

"Good. Then I will see you Monday. Have a good weekend." She handed the report back before going into her office and shut the door.

Carlton sighed as he threw the report down and rubbed his face.

"Ooo, she's got you so whipped!" Shawn chuckled and made a whip crack noise.

Carlton just growled as he organized his files and grabbed his coat.

"She so totally does! I mean, she is a force to reckon with, but you barely put up a fight! Where is the fierce Detective Lassiter that we all know and love! Mainly love. Well, for most people, it's probably love to hate, but still some form of love, I guess…" Carlton grabbed his coat and headed outside as Shawn continued rambling. "Hmm, talk about food for thought. Which, when you think about it, is a very weird expression. How do you feed thought? Unless thought is someone's name. It just doesn't make any sense! Kind of like 'I'll chew on that.' Chew on what? *sigh* Why can't people just say what they mean?"

"Like you should talk." Carlton snorted as they crossed the parking lot and he pulled out his keys.

"Ah! There's another one! Of course I should talk; it's one of the perks of being human. Well, there are some people who can't talk verbally but can with their hands. There's a fun word: Verbally. Try it. Ver-bal-ly. It sounds like verb bully. Like whenever you talk, you are bullying verbs."

Carlton groaned as he got in his car and shut the door. "Can't you shut up for two minutes?"

"Why? I just said that it's my right to…"

Carlton slammed his hand on the steering wheel. "I know what you said, but I also reserve the right to some peace and quiet when I want it!"

There was a few seconds of silence before Shawn said, "Dang Lassie. Tell me how you really feel, why don't you."

Carlton took a deep breath and let it out slowly before starting the car. "Let's just go to the hospital in silence."

"But Lassie!" Shawn whined. "It's a two-hour drive! Can't you at least turn on some music?"

Carlton flicked the radio on and grinned as Shawn groaned, "Oh no. Classical?! Can you be anymore boring? Silence would be preferred."

* * *

  
  


Ten minutes into the drive, Carlton was a bit surprised that Shawn had stayed quiet so long. But then he realized that he did not feel the weird sensation whenever Shawn was around. He called Shawn's name several times and reached a hand toward the passenger seat. Getting no response, Carlton shrugged and changed the radio to a rock station.

Since he figured Shawn was waiting for him at the hospital, Carlton decided to stop for lunch and enjoy the solitude, although he was starting to miss Shawn's random commentary. He stopped mid-bite and wondered where the hell that thought came from. He shook his head before thinking about something else and finished his food quickly.

* * *

  
  


Carlton had just stepped off the elevator when he heard, "About time you got here, Lassie! Did you get lost? Because that is what a GPS is for, and I know you have one. You don't always use it, but you have one."

Carlton rubbed his forehead as he walked down the hallway. He had asked a nurse at the front desk for Shawn's room number, but there were a lot of hallways branching off the main one and he was having problems keeping the numbers straight. He should have gone to bed earlier last night, but he was too jittery from the coffee to go to sleep at a reasonable time, so he was paying for it now.

"Hey Lassie! Over here!" Shawn called from one of the hallways.

Snapping out of thoughts of taking a nap in his car, Carlton changed directions quickly. When he reached the right room number, he froze outside the door.

"Well, what are you waiting for Lassie?"

Carlton took a deep breath. "Your dad is in there."

"So? You've known him for years and he actually likes you."

"He's going to know something is wrong. I can't lie to him."

"Yes, you can. Dude, my dad has been at this hospital every day. I think he has only left once, and just to shower. He has been sleeping in that uncomfortable chair and eating mostly hospital food. He is off his game and, as long as you keep your cool, he isn't going to notice anything. Now get in there!"

Shawn gave Carlton a shove, causing him to stumble into the door. Henry looked up at the noise and, recognizing Carlton, waved him in. With a resigned sigh, Carlton opened the door and entered.

"Ah, Carlton! I was wondering when you were going to visit. Is Juliet with you?"

Carlton crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, purposely angling himself so he could not see the bed. "No. Although, if I had refused to come, the chief would have had O'Hara drive me."

Henry chuckled. "Well, those are two women that shouldn't be crossed; unless you can handle yourself like I can."

"You can?"

"Yes. Karen and I have butted heads plenty of times, and we usually win an equal amount of times."

"Of course." Carlton shook his head as Henry looked him over.

"You look like crap."

"Thanks."

"Have you been eating?"

"Uh oh," Shawn commented. "He's getting concerned over you."

Carlton ignored Shawn and replied, "Yes, of course."

"But I'm guessing not enough."

"And I'm guessing it's none of your damn business!" Carlton snapped.

Henry raised his eyebrow as Shawn said, "Oh Lassie, you shouldn't have done that."

Carlton barely resisted the urge to tell Shawn to shut up, and had a staring contest with Henry. Without breaking eye contact, Henry said, "I'm just a concerned friend."

"Yeah, well I'm tired of everyone showing their concern for me. People need to leave me the hell alone."

"They're not going to do that Carlton, especially right now. You look like you could fall over any minute, and I, for one, do not want to see you end up in the hospital as well. Everyone has enough to worry about."

Carlton looked down and rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry. It…it has been a very stressful week and it doesn't help that everyone keeps giving me advice and making me food. I'm not used to this type of attention and, quite frankly, don't like it."

"I'm sorry you feel that way. However, people do care about you, whether you want them to or not. Even Shawn. Heck, especially Shawn. For some strange reason, he's taken a liking to you." Henry shrugged. "For all we know, he could be madly in love with you."

Carlton looked up with shock as Shawn said, "Whoa! How is my dad always right?! Even when he doesn't even realize it?"

"In love with me?" Carlton asked, still a bit stunned that Henry had come to that conclusion.

"And why not? He acts like a school kid with a crush, and I've always had a suspicion that he was gay, or at least not completely straight."

"*Gasp* What? Since when?!" Shawn demanded.

Carlton shook his head, not believing that he was having this conversation with Henry. "You sure have one strange kid."

"Hey!" Shawn protested. "I take great offense to that!"

Henry, on the other hand, chuckled as he stood up. "I agree with you completely." Stretching, he said, "Gus won't be here for another few hours since he had to work, but would you mind if I go get some lunch? I haven't eaten since about 8am when one of the nurses came in to check Shawn's stitches and give him a sponge bath."

Carlton grimaced at the mental image while Shawn whined, "Dad! Talk about TMI!"

"Sure. I didn't come all the way out here to leave within 10 minutes."

"Good. And I'll even bring you back some food."

"But I just ate an hour ago."

"Aha!" Shawn exclaimed, startling Carlton slightly by his volume. "So that's why it took you so long to get here!"

"And what exactly did you eat?" Henry asked as he crossed his arms.

"A burger and some fries."

"What about fruits and vegetables?"

"Fries are a vegetable." When Henry simply stared, Carlton asked, "Isn't it enough that I'm eating?"

Henry snorted and shook his head. "You know, you are not that young anymore. You really need to take better care of yourself."

Carlton sighed, "Henry, please. No more advice."

"I only give it when you really need it." Henry patted Carlton's arm before making his way out the door. "I'm still bringing you back something." He called as the door shut.


	34. Chapter 34

_ CHAPTER 34 _

Once they were alone, Carlton moved over to sit in a chair and finally looked at the bed. "Wow, you still look like crap."

Shawn snorted as he got closer to Carlton but kept his back to the bed. "Gee, thanks Lassie."

"And you were right."

"About what?"

"This is really creepy, having you in two places at once. I mean, I knew that your body was at the hospital while you were bugging me; but knowing it and experiencing it are two very different things. You know what I mean?"

"Sort of."

Carlton sighed. "Well, any suggestions?"

"For what? New ice cream flavor? Pineapple Jerky Mango. Your next haircut? Grown out a bit, but not looking shaggy. First date? Always food and something fun. For us, I'm thinking pizza and go-karts, maybe paintball but I think you need to learn to relax more so you can enjoy it better. Maybe after the third or fourth date, because I do not put out on the first date, no matter how sexy…"

"STOP!" Carlton snapped, his ears and cheeks turning red.

"Yes Lassie?" Shawn asked innocently.

"I meant, any suggestions on how to get you back into your body and wake up?"

"Oh, that. Um…nope. I've got nothing."

Carlton rubbed his face as he thought. "Have you tried, you know, touching yourself?"

"*Gasp* Lassie! I never realized you were such a perv! And a hypocrite to boot!"

"What?" Carlton asked confused as he thought over what he just said. It took a few seconds before he replied, "No! Not like that! Just, touch your arm or forehead or something. See what happens."

"Okay, but it's still really weird." Shawn sighed as he finally turned towards the bed and moved closer. "Here goes nothing." He tried to pretend that it was someone else, as he took a deep breath and reached a hand out.

Shawn felt a strange sensation and was hopeful for a second before his hand passed completely through his arm. "Huh, weird."

Carlton sighed, "I guess it didn't work."

"Nope. Hey Lassie, hold out your hand."

"Why?" Carlton asked suspiciously.

"Just trust me, alright?"

"I think I've trusted you enough this past week."

"Lassie!" Shawn whined. "Please! I can't do it alone." He sang to a tune from Chicago.

"Fine!" Carlton snapped. "Just stop your infernal singing!"

"No promises, Lassie." Shawn said gleefully.

Carlton held out his hand and barely a second later, felt a pressure on his palm.

"Can you feel that?" Shawn asked as he squeezed Carlton's hand. 

"Yeah."

"Hmm, so can I."

"So what's the problem?"

"When I tried it with my hand, I got nothing. Almost as if I was touching thin air."

"Or you are thin air."

"But that wouldn't explain how I can still feel you and vice versa."

"You haven't been able to touch anyone else?"

"Well, I can bump into others, but they never seem to feel it back. It's almost like that guy I came across in the hallway."

"What guy?"

Shawn dropped his hand. "It's not important. You wouldn't believe me anyways."

"That hasn't stopped you before." Carlton smirked.

"Yeah, well, this is different. It was a very strange and morbid experience, and I don't want to think…hmm."

Carlton frowned when Shawn released a strange moan. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know. I just got this weird sensation, almost like my chest is itchy."

Carlton instantly flashed back to Tuesday night, when he was able to see Shawn's beat up and bloodied body for a second. "Do you feel anything else?"

"No, but it…mmm…it seems to be spreading."

Carlton looked over as the heart monitor started beeping. "Your heart rate is increasing. I'm going to get a nurse."

"Why? They can't see me."

"But something is also happening to your body, and it's probably connected."

"Okay fine, but hurry."

Carlton nodded as he quickly got up and went to the door. As he opened it, he almost ran into a male nurse. "Oh, thank goodness. We need help."

The guy looked around Carlton at the bed and monitor. "Looks like I got here just in time. I need you to wait outside, please."

Carlton nodded as he stepped around the nurse. "Okay. I'm going to get his father."

"You do that." The guy said as he shut the door.

Feeling uneasy about leaving Shawn alone, Carlton quickly pulled out his phone as he walked back towards the elevators.

Henry picked up on the second ring,  _ "I hope you're not calling to convince me to not bring you any food." _

"No, but you need to get back up here. Something is happening with Shawn."

_ "What's wrong?" _

"I don't know. His heart rate started increasing. A nurse came in and he asked me to leave."

_ "Wait, he?" _

"Yeah, the nurse."

_ "The nurse is a male?!" _

"Yeah. Why is that so hard to believe? There are plenty of male nurses out there."

_ "But not on this floor. I've been here since Shawn was admitted, and I haven't seen a single male nurse." _

Carlton froze, a feeling of dread overcoming him. "Then that means…"

"LASSIE!" He faintly heard.

"Shit!" Carlton whispered as he bolted down the hallway, dropping his phone on the way. He skirted around nurses, patients, even knocked over a supply cart in his haste, not that he noticed. He slowed down just enough to get a grip on the handle before going through the door.

The lights were off and, at first glance, Carlton could just barely make out Shawn on the bed and a few of the monitors. Taking a few steps into the room, Carlton was about to reach for his gun when a voice behind him said, "Stop right where you are, and don't even think of reaching for that gun."

Cursing himself for not having his gun out already, Carlton tried to look behind him as he heard the door being locked. 

The voice whispered, "Move away from the door, but not too close to the equipment. I don't need you interfering anymore than you already have."

Carlton slowly complied and turned so he could see him. It was the nurse from earlier, and he looked vaguely familiar, but Carlton could not place him. "What have you done to Shawn?"

The guy shrugged as he placed a chair under the door handle. "Just finishing a job that got interrupted."

Carlton frowned. "Who the hell are you?"

"Nick Hanesworth. Joe's older brother. You know, the kid who is in jail all because he was trying to rid the world of an unnecessary evil."

Carlton growled and took a step forward. "Your brother kidnapped and tortured an innocent and severely injured man! If I had arrived even a second later, your brother would be facing a first degree murder charge, that's if he made it out of the cabin alive."

Nick's face darkened. "So you're the cop that busted him? All the more reason to kill you too."

Carlton saw Henry's face appear in the door window before the handle started to jiggle. When Nick glanced at the door, Carlton saw his opportunity and charged him. Nick barely had time to turn back when they collided, both falling to the floor. Pounding and shouting came from the other side of the door, but Carlton ignored it as they both struggled for the gun. Carlton finally managed to get a grip on the gun and pinned Nick under him. Right as he threw a punch at Nick's head, the gun suddenly went off.


	35. Chapter 35

_ CHAPTER 35 _

Shawn had no idea what was happening. One moment he and Carlton were just talking in his hospital room, when he suddenly felt this weird sensation, almost like he was itchy all over. And then, as Carlton was debating whether or not to get help, the itchiness became painful. He doubled over in pain and barely noticed when Carlton left; but looked up when a new voice said, "So, you're the psychic who has messed up my brother's life, eh?"

"You've gotta be kidding me." Shawn mumbled as the pain increased.

"Joey should have set your body on fire as soon as he found out you were a psychic. None of that purification crap. He should have known that it would only work if the possessed was awake and willing to be rid of spirits."

"Aw crap, another crazy. Where's Lassie when you need him. Lassie? Lassie!" Shawn started calling as he grit his teeth.

"Well, better late than never, I guess. Go to hell psychic." The guy spat as he pulled out a syringe.

"No, stop." Shawn pleaded as he fell to his knees. "Lassie, I need you! LASSIE!" Shawn yelled as he watched the guy put the syringe in the IV.

The guy turned the alarms off and stepped back from the bed, a sick smile on his face. "I can't wait to tell Pops what Joey and I have done. He will be so proud."

"Lassie! Hurry." Shawn pleaded as he watched the guy walk away from the bed. He was almost to the door when they heard running footsteps. Shawn looked up as the guy turned off the lights and hid behind the door. He pulled out a gun just as the door opened.

Shawn tried to warn Carlton but words failed him. Hopelessly, he looked on as the guy, whose name turned out to be Nick, surprised Carlton and locked the door. Shawn's distress only increased as they verbally sparred back and forth. He saw his dad at the door window and felt relief for a second, before Carlton charged Nick. Shawn watched with bated breath as they wrestled and his heart nearly stopped when the gun went off and they both went still.

"Lassie?" Shawn called, completely forgetting about the pain. "Lassie!"

After a few seconds, there was movement. Carlton, ever so slowly, got off the floor and stumbled into the wall. "Lassie, are you alright?"

Carlton looked down and touched his stomach. Pulling his hand away, he stared at all the blood. "I got shot."

"What?!" Shawn gasped out. "You, you gotta get some help Lassie. Unblock the door and let them in." Carlton just continued to stare at his hand. "Lassie!"

Carlton looked up and focused on the bed. "What he do?"

"What?!" Shawn asked, confused.

Carlton took a few steps forward and stumbled to the bed. "What did...Nick do to you?"

"Oh, umm... Put something in my IV." Carlton nodded as he reached over and pulled the IV out of Shawn's arm. Shawn hissed in pain and grabbed his hand. "Ouch! Be careful next time, Lassie!"

"Next time? What makes you think I'll be...around next...time." Carlton mumbled as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fainted.

"No! Lassie!" Shawn shouted as he leapt forward and managed to slow down Carlton's fall to the floor. "Come on Lassie! Wake up!" Shawn shouted, patting Carlton's face just as the door finally opened with a crash.

"Carlton!" Henry shouted as he raced across the room and knelt next to him, inadvertently pushing Shawn away.

"Hey! Watch what you're doing." Shawn mumbled and moved to a far corner as medical personnel entered. The room was soon filled with jumbled voices and Shawn was just about to go into the hallway when he heard a quiet voice say, "Shawn?" Shawn looked up with wide eyes to see Carlton standing against the wall, his eyes flicking between the Shawn on the bed, Shawn in the corner, and his own body on the floor.

"Lassie! What are you doing?"

Carlton shook his head slowly as he focused on the Shawn in the corner. "I don't know. The last thing I remember is fighting for the gun."

"Oh, this is so not good Lassie! You gotta...mmm." Shawn doubled over.

"What's wrong?"

"The pain is back and it's much worse than before. Ow!"

Suddenly the other voices in the room became more urgent, "Doctor! Mr. Spencer's heart is beating at a very high speed." "Get the paddles ready!" "We need room to work."

"Ow! Owowowowow! Not fair!" Shawn cried and fell to the floor.

"Shawn, listen to me!" Carlton said as he hovered over Shawn. "You'll be okay!"

"That's um, very optimistic of you, Lassie, but experience is telling me otherwise." Shawn squeezed his eyes shut as the pain increased.

"You have to be okay, because you were right."

"I know I was. About what?"

"I have feelings for you."

Shawn looked up to see Carlton kneeling next to him, tears in his eyes. "You do?"

"Call me crazy, but I do."

"You love me?"

Carlton bit his lip. "I don't know, maybe. But you have to make it through this so that we can both find out, together."

"Talk about a um… an offer I can't, can't refuse."

"So are you going to make it through this and wake up for me?"

"F-for you Lassie, an-any-anything." Shawn sighed as everything went black.

* * *

  
  


Shawn noticed that something was wrong as soon as he gained consciousness. He could not remember what had happened last, and when he tried to open his eyes, they would not budge. He quickly realized that he could not move any other part of his body, just like when he was in the cabin. Shawn started to panic, especially when he noticed that there was something in his throat, preventing him from taking deep breaths. He distantly heard a voice calling his name and telling him to open his eyes and calm down. But he could not open eyes, he could not move, and he could not even tell the voice that he could not move. As he slipped back into unconsciousness, he thought he heard another voice say, "You better wake up soon, Spencer, or so help me, I will kick your ass before throwing you in jail."


	36. Chapter 36

CHAPTER 36

Juliet stared at the wall across from her without seeing it. She could not believe that she was in the waiting room of the same hospital for the second time in a week; but for a different person. The day had started out like any other Saturday: she went for a jog, showered, did chores around the house, and played with her cats. After lunch is when everything got turned around. She tried calling Carlton to see if he wanted to go visit Shawn with her, but he never answered. Eventually, she decided to swing by the station to see if he was still working. But when she got there, she found his desk empty.

Before she could ask if anyone had seen him, Karen called her into her office. "O'Hara, I thought you had the weekend off."

"I do, I'm just trying to find Carlton. He isn't answering his phone, and I was going to see if he wanted to visit Shawn with me."

Karen smiled slightly. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but he left about 2 hours ago to visit Mr. Spencer. He should be there by now."

"Oh." Juliet frowned. "But why hasn't he answered his phone?"

"Maybe he's…distracted by other things."

"Maybe." Juliet sighed. "I still can't believe that he kept that a secret from me for so long."

"He had his reasons."

"I know, but I thought that he trusted me."

"He does trust you. He told you, didn't he?"

"Yeah, but it took him a few days. And he told you before he told me!"

Karen sighed. "Juliet, think about how Carlton was coping. Remember when he came into the station the day after Shawn was found and he was clearly not himself? He was overwhelmed and needed someone who could put aside their feelings for Shawn and help him. He knows you would have gotten overemotional and he probably would have clammed up before too long."

Juliet crossed her arms and looked away. She knew the chief was right, but it did not mean that she felt any better.

"Juliet?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I mean, if I didn't know that Shawn was psychic, I wouldn't believe his story at all."

"It does seem a bit far-fetched."

"Especially for Carlton. I would expect something like this from Shawn, but not Carlton. Well, Shawn has done similar things before, but not to this extreme."

Karen smiled, "Yes he has. So, it actually comes as no surprise…"

She was cut off by her cell phone ringing. Before she could answer it, Juliet's phone started ringing as well. Juliet frowned as she checked the caller ID. "It's Gus."

"Henry." Karen replied.

A feeling of dread overcame Juliet as she answered. "Hey Gus."

_ "Juliet, you need to get to the hospital right away. Shawn got attacked again, but this time Lassiter was there and he got hurt too! I don't know all the details because I'm still at work, but Mr. Spencer just called me and told me what happened, or at least parts of it. He told me that I need to get there as soon as I can and to call you as well since he has enough people to talk to…" _

Juliet shook her head as she tried to process everything that Gus had said really quickly. "Wait, Gus, slow down. I can't understand what you're saying. Something about Shawn and Carlton and Mr. Spencer and needing to get…"

"WHAT?!" Karen shouted. "How the hell did that happen?!… I know it isn't your fault, Henry, but still…yes, I will be there as soon as I can. Thank you for letting me know. Please keep me informed, on both of them."

_ "Juliet? Juliet, are you still there?" _

Juliet shook her head as she refocused on her phone. "Yeah, what were you saying?"

_ "Shawn and Carlton were attacked at the hospital. Mr. Spencer didn't give me many details, but he told me to call you before heading to the hospital." _

"Shawn and Carlton?"

_ "That's what he said." _

"Do you know how bad?" Juliet asked as she watched Karen pick up her office phone and dial a number.

_ "No, he wouldn't tell me." _

"Okay, I'm at the station right now. Do you want me to meet you somewhere and we can drive together?"

_ "Sure. The Psych office is about halfway between us. I'll meet you there in 15 minutes?" _

"Okay. See ya."

"HOW THE HELL DID SOMETHING LIKE THIS HAPPEN?!" Karen shouted, unintentionally cutting off Gus. "NO, I WILL NOT CALM DOWN! YOU NEED TO TIGHTEN YOUR DAMN SECURITY!" Karen silently fumed as she listened to the person on the other line. "If either of my men die, I am going to hold you personally responsible. Head of Security, my ass!"

Juliet jumped when Karen slammed the phone down. Looking around, she noticed that half of the precinct was staring at them. Clearing her throat, Juliet asked, "Chief?"

Karen slowly looked at her, and Juliet could see the anger, pain, and uncertainty in her eyes. "Juliet, I'm assuming that Mr. Guster already filled you in?"

"Sort of. He said something about Shawn and Carlton both being attacked, and that we should head over there."

Karen nodded. "Yes, you should. I have to talk to their local police chief and the hospital's head of security, and then I will meet you there."

"Okay." Juliet started to head out of the office.

"And one more thing." Karen added.

Juliet quickly turned around. "Yes Chief?"

"If there's any more news, good or bad, before I get there, don't hesitate to call me."

"Of course." Juliet replied as the feeling of dread returned. "But they are both fighters, they will be fine."

"I hope so."

* * *

  
  


When Juliet and Gus got to the hospital, Henry filled them in with as much as he knew: an unknown figure, dressed as a nurse, had entered Shawn's room when Shawn's heart rate was increasing. Carlton had left to get help and called Henry, alerting him to the presence of the male "nurse". Carlton had dropped his phone as he ran back to the room. By the time Henry had gotten to Shawn's room and got the door open, Carlton and the guy had fought each other, ending with both of them unconscious and Carlton with a gunshot wound to the stomach. GSWs to the stomach were the worst and, next to a direct shot to the heart or brain, were one of the most fatal. Carlton's odds of survival were a bit better since he was already in the hospital, but it was still a battle.

Juliet stood up as Gus entered the waiting room. "How's Shawn?" She asked.

Gus shrugged as he sat down. "There doesn't seem to be any more physical damage done, but they had to intubate him again. It seems the guy had switched Shawn's meds the last time a nurse came in, and then tried to inject a poison into the bag. Luckily, Lassiter managed to pull the IV out before it could enter his bloodstream."

"So he's going to be okay?"

"We still won't know until he wakes up, but there does seem to be increased brain activity, so hopefully he'll wake up in the next day or so."

"Oh thank god."

"Family of Carlton Lassiter?" A doctor called.


	37. Chapter 37

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is supposed to be a bit...disjointed at times since Shawn is suffering from minor brain damage. Sorry in advance if anyone gets confused.
> 
> Enjoy!

_ CHAPTER 37 _

When Shawn woke up again, things were slightly better. He could feel his arms and legs this time; well he could feel how painful they were. For a minute, he could not remember why they would hurt so much. He listened to the noises around him and tried to find some clues. He heard beeping, whooshing, snoring, distorted voices, and footsteps coming and going. It was not until he smelled the weird combination of cleaning supplies, old spice, and a hint of lavender did it finally click: he was in the hospital and his dad was asleep in the room.

As soon as that realization hit him, the events of the last two weeks came flooding back. He remembered running off, crashing his motorcycle, being kidnapped, showing up but basically being invisible, bugging Lassie, being found, bugging Lassie again, Lassie being shot... Shawn's eyes snapped open at that. Lassie had been shot in the stomach, and there was nothing Shawn could do to prevent it.

Shawn looked around the room as he distantly heard the beeping increase. If he could just wake up his dad, he can find out about Lassie. He tried moving his arm, but it hurt too much. He also found that he could not speak, thanks to the tube in his throat. Trying to let the tube do his breathing, Shawn moaned loudly.

Luckily that did the trick, and Henry woke up with a start. Blinking tiredly, he looked around the room, before finally landing on Shawn. "Shawn?" Shawn just moaned in response. "Geez, kid. It's about time you woke up." Shawn rolled his eyes. "Hey, don't give me that! You've been out for quite a few days. I bet you want that tube out of your mouth, eh?" Shawn tried to nod but found that it caused pain. "Just keep still, kid, while we wait for the doctor."

For once, Shawn did what he was told, but his eyes roamed the room nonetheless. There were countless cards, balloons, pineapples, and a stuffed animal or two piled in boxes in one corner; Shawn vaguely remembered reading some of them. On one side of the bed was a couple of chairs, including the one his father had previously occupied with a duffle bag dropped haphazardly between the chairs. Across the room was a door that Shawn could tell led to a bathroom.

He found the window and noticed that it was dark outside. Another sweep of the room did not reveal a wall clock, but his dad usually wore a watch. Unfortunately, his dad's wrist was turned in a way that Shawn could not see the watch face. The outside hallway was still brightly lit, which meant it could not be too late. Maybe he should request that a clock be in the room the next time he was in the hospital…

"Shawn!" Henry said with a snap of his fingers and Shawn quickly focused on his dad. "Are you okay kid? Your eyes seem to be wandering the room a bit erratically." When Shawn just frowned, Henry sighed. "The doctor should be here soon. Just stay awake."

Shawn rolled his eyes, before continuing to look for clues. Judging by the cleanliness of the room and the boxes, he could tell that he was moved to a new room since…what had happened with Lassie and that other guy. Without warning, the scene started to replay itself. The fake nurse coming in, turning things off, adding something to his IV, hiding behind the door right before Lassie came in. Then the two of them talking, Lassie lunging, fighting, and a gunshot before everything went still.

"SHAWN!" Henry snapped. Shawn blinked and looked at his dad with wide eyes. "The doctor's here."

Shawn resisted the urge to take a deep breath as he tried to calm down. His dad would know what happened to Lassie, if Shawn could just figure out a way to ask him…

"Hello Shawn."

Shawn snapped his attention to the new person hovering over him. They had on blue scrubs covered by a long doctor's coat with a name tag hanging off the pocket. Squinting, Shawn could just make out the name Phillip Braxton, MD, before a light was shined in his eyes and he quickly closed them.

"Shawn, I need you to open your eyes and look directly at me."

When Shawn just squinted, Henry sighed, "Come on kid, the sooner you cooperate, the sooner you can get the tube taken out of your mouth."

With a roll of his eyes, Shawn reluctantly complied. After a few seconds, the light was put down and the doctor held a finger up. "I want you to follow my finger with your eyes only."

Shawn would have found the task extremely easy, if he did not keep getting distracted by things in the corner of his eyes.

"Shawn?" The doctor asked. When Shawn looked at him again, the doctor continued. "I'm a bit concerned about how easily you are distracted, but I think it'll be okay if we take the tube out of your mouth. When I tell you to, I want you to blow out as hard as you can. If you understand, blink your eyes twice."

It took a few seconds for his eyelids to cooperate, but eventually he got them to blink twice. "Good. Just give me one second to get set up."

Shawn let his eyes travel the room again. Henry was pacing nervously by the chairs with the phone in his hands. It looked like he was texting someone, but was getting frustrated that it was taking so long to get the words right. Shawn looked over at the nurse who entered the room. She looked about 25 years old, brunette, and pretty cute even in scrubs that were a little big on her. A month ago, Shawn would have been all over her, but now, all he cared about was Lassie and whether or not he was okay.

"Alright Shawn." The doctor said as he stood next to the bed. "Are you ready?" Shawn focused on the doctor again before blinking his eyes twice. "Okay. Blow." Shawn did as he was told and felt the tube move.

Once it was out, Shawn began coughing and heard his dad say, "Take it easy, kid. Slow breaths."

It seemed to take forever, but eventually Shawn felt himself relax. Once his breathing was under control, the doctor gave him some ice chips. "Now Shawn, you have experienced some severe trauma and I want to find out if everything is alright in that brain of yours. So first, I'm going to be asking you a series of questions, understood?"

Shawn nodded, "Yeah, but I got one first." Shawn rasped.

"Can it wait?"

"No, where's Lassie?"

The doctor raised his eyebrow. "Lassie? The dog?"

"No! Dad, where's Lassie?"

Henry came closer and crossed his arms. "Why are you asking about Carlton?"

"You know why!"

"Oh, really?"

"Yes! He was shot!"

Henry frowned. "What makes you say that?"

"Just, because! I know he got shot and I need to know if he's even alive!"

The doctor shook his head. "Wait, is Lassie the detective?"

"Yes." Henry replied as he noticed Shawn's heart rate was picking up.

"Dad, I just need to know if he's okay!"

"Shawn, I don't know myself, but you need to calm down."

"Then you better find out!" Shawn gasped as he had trouble breathing.

The doctor quickly grabbed an oxygen mask and pulled it over Shawn's head. "Shawn? You need to calm down and just breath. You are putting too much pressure on your lungs right now. Just breath."

Shawn closed his eyes as he concentrated on calming down. Once his breathing and heart rate were at a good pace again, Shawn pulled the mask down and looked at Henry. "Dad. Please. I need to know."

Henry sighed as he rubbed his face before finally saying, "Okay Shawn, I'll go ask about Carlton. In the meantime, you need to cooperate with the doctor, got it?"

"Yes, sir." Shawn rasped with a roll of his eyes.

"Good." Henry nodded as he left.


	38. Chapter 38

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The things I reference in here, I don't mean any offense to anyone and I'm sorry if I'm mistaken on something, but I kind of just googled/wiki'ed what I was looking for... And obviously I'm not associated with anything that anyone recognizes, just to clarify 
> 
> Enjoy!

_ CHAPTER 38 _

The doctor raised the bed and said, "Alright Shawn, I'm going to give you three words to remember. Baseball, Bahamas, and billygoat."

"Those are so random."

"Yes, but they all start with the letter B, so it would be a little easier to remember. Now repeat them back to me."

"*sigh* Fine. The billygoats play baseball in the Bahamas."

"Very good. The first set of questions is fairly easy, but answer them anyways. Name?"

"Shawn Spencer."

"Age?"

"31."

"Hometown?"

"Santa Barbara."

"Current job position?"

"Head psychic for the SBPD and co-owner of the private detective agency Psych."

The doctor raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Yep. Just ask my father."

"Moving on. I would be surprised if you knew today's date, but what's the last date you remember?"

Shawn frowned as he thought. The days he spent with Carlton were beginning to blur; but if he remembered correctly, today was... "Saturday." Shawn whispered.

"I'm sorry?"

"Today is Saturday. I was found Wednesday and I was last seen the Tuesday before that."

The doctor looked at him in shock. "How did you know that?"

"I told you I'm a psychic."

"Psychic my ass." Shawn looked around the room and spotted Carlton leaning against the wall. Shawn grinned and was about to ask Carlton what he was doing there when he noticed that Carlton was a bit blurry. With a sigh, he realized that Carlton was not really there, or at least in the same sense that Shawn himself was not really there the past week.

"Shawn?" The doctor asked.

Carlton shook his head and said, "Stop looking at me and pay attention to the doctor. Or else he might think that you're crazy, if he doesn't already."

Shawn looked back at the doctor. "Sorry, the spirits can be very distracting." He grinned as he heard Carlton groan. "Although, today could be Sunday. The spirits aren't being clear on what time it is, other than it being dark out."

The doctor looked confused but nodded, "It's still Saturday. Okay, your long-term memory seems fine. Now, how do you feel? Not just overall, but does anything feel odd or are you in pain?"

Shawn shrugged. "You know how after your leg or arm falls asleep and you try to walk or move and you get this weird tingling sensation?"

The doctor smirked. "Yes."

"Well, it's kind of like that, only all over with some parts being a bit painful. Plus, I can't seem to move anything. I think the meds are wearing off."

"We had to disconnect your IV for about an hour and a half while we figured out what happened. The new meds should kick in soon."

"When can I go see Lassie?" Shawn asked as he looked back over at Carlton. He could make out the agitated look Carlton was wearing, as well as the bullet hole in his outfit. Shawn thought that it was a little weird that Carlton even had on clothes. Why would a spirit even need clothes, except maybe to keep people from being freaked out by a naked ghost. Although, Shawn's mind was having fun just imagining what he would look like under the clothes, minus the bullet hole of course…

"Shawn?"

"Spencer! You're drooling."

Shawn looked up to see Carlton glaring at him. Blushing, Shawn turned back to the doctor. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"Since I don't know the condition of your friend, I wouldn't be able to sanction a visit. Besides, I want to wait a few days before letting you travel, even with a gurney. I'm sorry."

Shawn looked back at Carlton, who shrugged. "I'm okay, for now. Out of surgery, but still in critical condition."

"I understand." Shawn sighed. "Are we done here?"

"Almost. Can you tell me those three words I had you memorize?"

Shawn frowned as he thought. They were on the tip of his tongue. Something to do with the letter b. Or maybe it was p? V? No, that wasn't right. With a sigh, he shook his head.

"That's okay Shawn. I'm going to schedule another brain scan for the morning since you seem to be having trouble concentrating."

"You do that. Oh, when do I get real food? I really want some pineapple."

"Unfortunately, you still have a feeding tube, which won't be taken out until tomorrow. You probably won't get any real food until lunchtime tomorrow, and then you will be on the BRAT diet."

"Hey! I take great offense to that!"

Carlton snorted as the doctor looked confused. "I'm sorry?" The doctor asked.

Shawn sighed, "The joke isn't as funny when you have to explain it."

"Oh-kay. Any other questions?"

"Nope. Wait! Can I get a clock in here? It's very disconcerting to wake up and not know what time it is, especially if you haven't exactly been with it for over a week."

The doctor smiled, "I'll ask the nurses and see if they can find one for you."

"Thanks doc!" Shawn smiled as he saw Carlton shake his head.

"Alright. I go off shift in about 40 minutes…"

"Which is…when exactly?"

"9 o'clock."

"Oh, okay."

"And I will be back around 10am tomorrow to check on you. But in the meantime, let the nurses know if you need anything, and they will notify the on-call doctor if needed."

"Alright." Shawn kept looking between the doctor and Carlton, waiting for the doctor to leave so he could ask Carlton questions.

"Good night, Shawn." The doctor smiled as he left the room.

As the door shut, Shawn asked, "Lassie! What the hell are you doing here?!"

"Like I should know?! You're the one who started all this crap."

"I started it? Dude, it was Eli and Gabriel who started it!"

"I assume you mean Joe and Dave? Who the hell are Eli and Gabriel?"

"You know, the guys from Xena and the Marvel comic books." Shawn yawned. "Famous Exorcists."

Carlton shook his head. "Why do I even bother?"

"Because you wuv me?" Shawn gave him puppy dog eyes.

"Hell no!" Carlton crossed his arms. "I don't love immature, annoying pain-in-the-asses."

"Why not? We're the best kind! Scratch that. I don't want you finding another immature pain-in-the-ass."

"You forgot annoying."

"Nope. If you don't go for me, then you at least need someone to annoy you." Shawn grinned as Carlton fumed.

When Shawn's grin turned into another yawn and his eyelids started drooping, Carlton shook his head. "You should get some sleep."

"Naah. Not until I find out about you." Shawn mumbled sleepily as he felt the medicine finally kicking in.

"I told you, I'm still alive."

"Yeah, but will you still be alive in the morning?"

Shawn and Carlton stared right at each other for a few seconds before Carlton blinked and said, "I don't know, but I'll try."

Shawn slowly nodded, "Okay."

"Go to sleep, you'll need it."

"Since when did you care about me?"

Carlton shrugged, "You're a part of my team and I care about everyone on my team, including Guster."

Shawn laughed as he tried to get comfortable. "I'll be sure to let Gus know that you have feelings for him."

"I didn't say that."

"Eh, eye of the beloved and whatnot." Shawn closed his eyes.

"It's eye of the beholder, you idiot."

"I've heard it… both…ways." Shawn mumbled as he felt himself going under. Before he was completely asleep, he could have sworn he heard Carlton say, "I don't know what I would do without you."


	39. Chapter 39

_ CHAPTER 39 _

Gus bounced his leg nervously as he looked between Shawn and the reports he was supposed to be reading. Shawn had woken up last night around 8, just about 10 minutes after they had gotten the news on Carlton. Gus found it odd when Henry showed up asking about Carlton, especially when he explained that Shawn was basically pleading for information. He was even more confused when he was told that Shawn somehow knew that Carlton had been shot. Juliet had gasped at that, but did not say anything right away.

Once Henry left, having convinced a nurse to let him see Carlton, Juliet finally told Gus about how Carlton was able to find Shawn. At first, he did not believe it because Shawn was not psychic and therefore it was impossible for Shawn to talk to Carlton psychically. But then Gus got to thinking: the doctors had mentioned brain damage from the drugs, and Gus knew that those were powerful neurological drugs; Carlton had been acting odd for over a week, at least from what Juliet had told him; and Shawn somehow knew that Carlton had been shot, even though it happened hours before he woke up, and Henry never said anything in the room about it to be overheard.

Gus' head was spinning and he resolved himself to ask Shawn, to see if it really happened, assuming of course that Shawn could remember it if it did. Henry had said that Shawn was having trouble concentrating, and could not remember the words the doctor had him memorize. Which was really worrying since Shawn never forgot anything. Sure, he sometimes pretended he did not know something, but Gus knew that it was so no one looked at him weirdly or decided that he was too smart for them. He did not know what Shawn would do without his memory. Well, it sounded like he still had his long-term memory, but might be having trouble with his short term memory. Gus hoped that it was just a side-effect of all the drugs and, once he was healthy and off drugs of any kind, he would be his old self again.

Gus sighed as he looked back at his report. He really needed to learn about this new drug since there was a meeting Monday morning about it. There was some leniency at work while Shawn was missing, since they knew how close Shawn and Gus were; but now that Shawn was found, Gus was expected to make all the meetings related to the conference he had left early from, and get in at least half days of work. He flipped the page and started reading about the results of the clinical study.

* * *

  
  


About 10 minutes later, as Gus was trying not to fall asleep, he heard a moan and a beep. Looking up, he noticed that Shawn was getting restless and his heart rate was increasing. He remembered the warning that both Henry and the nurses gave him about keeping Shawn calm, especially with all the wires and bandages he still had, so Gus quickly got up and tried to wake Shawn up. 

"Shawn? You need to calm down. Everything is fine. Shawn?" Gus shook Shawn's shoulder as Shawn started to get more and more restless. "Shawn? Shawn, you need to wake up. Shawn!"

Shawn woke up with a gasp, his hands going to the place on his chest where the final, deepest cut was. His eyes seemed to quickly survey the room before landing on Gus. With a sigh of relief, Shawn rasped, "Gus! What are you doing here?"

"Your dad needed a break, so I said I would stay here in case you woke up before he got back."

Shawn nodded as he surveyed the room again. His eyes seemed to linger on the far corner. After a few seconds, he frowned before looking down at his hands on his chest. "When did that happen?" Shawn asked as he slowly moved his fingers.

Gus gulped, not entirely sure how to explain it. "You don't remember what happened? Your dad said you had been awake when it happened."

"What?" Shawn asked as he looked between Gus and the far corner. "Oh! No. I mean yes, I do remember vaguely what happened in the cabin. I was asking about my hands. Why am I holding my chest?"

Gus shrugged. "I guess you had a bad dream about what happened. You were definitely freaking out right before you woke up."

"Huh, interesting." Shawn wiggled his fingers again and then lifted his hands a few inches before they fell down again. Shawn's gaze drifted to the corner again before he asked, "A little help?"

Gus frowned and looked at the far corner, which was empty. When he turned back, Shawn was staring at him. "Who are you talking to?" Gus asked.

"You, unless you see someone else here." Shawn said with a smirk as his eyes drifted to the far corner again.

"Help with what? And what are you looking at?"

"Nothing." Shawn answered quickly as he looked back at Gus. "Would you mind helping me move my arms? They don't seem to be working quite right today."

"Sure," Gus frowned as he reached over and moved Shawn's arms to his sides.

"Thanks buddy." Shawn said as his eyes traveled the room again. When they drifted to the window, which showed the light dawn sky, Shawn asked, "What time is it?"

Gus looked at his watch, a bit surprised that he had been in the room for over an hour now. "Almost 7am."

"Is it Sunday?"

Gus frowned. "Yeah. Why? Are you going to jump out of bed and go to church with me?"

Shawn smiled slightly at Gus' joke as he looked back at him. "No, I was just wondering how much time had passed since the last time I woke up. I'm guessing about 10 hours."

"Yeah."

"Where's my dad?" Shawn asked as he looked in the far corner again.

"He went to get some food and change his clothes. I expect him back anytime now."

Shawn nodded. "How's Lassie?"

"I haven't heard much more than the initial report from the doctor, but my guess is no news is good news, right?"

Shawn looked back at Gus. "Yeah. So, Jules is with him?"

"Well, they only allow 10 minute visits every hour, but she is over there. I saw him for a few minutes last night before I came to see you."

"I see you like Lassie more than me." Shawn smiled with a wink towards the far corner.

"No, it was just that I heard that you had fallen asleep again, so I figured that I should at least see how Lassiter was doing."

"So you've been in this room almost the whole 10 hours? Leaving your poor girlfriend alone?"

"No, I've been checking in with her every so often, and she's visited you and…" Gus frowned when he finally realized what Shawn had said. "Wait a minute. Who said that Juliet was my girlfriend?"

"You did."

"No, I haven't mentioned it."

Shawn rolled his eyes before looking back at Gus. "Yeah, you did."

"No. The only time that I've mentioned it to anyone was a few days ago when…" Gus trailed off when he remembered it was while Shawn was still in the coma. "Shawn, do you remember anything that happened after you crashed your bike, besides when Lassiter found you?"

Shawn quickly looked back at the far corner and shook his head. His eyes widened and he mouthed 'no' before rolling his eyes and finally sighed, "Fine!"

"Uh…Shawn? Are you okay? And don't tell me that you are, because okay people do not have conversations with walls."

Shawn looked at Gus nervously before saying, "Gus, buddy. You may want to sit down for this."

Gus frowned as he slowly complied. That was almost the exact sentence that Juliet had used earlier. "Shawn, you know you're my best friend. You can tell me anything and I will not judge you or call you crazy or anything."

Shawn smiled as he felt around for the bed control and slowly raised the bed. "Thanks Gus. So, I know this is going to sound crazy, and if I didn't experience it myself, I wouldn't believe it either." Shawn closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 

He quickly said, "Monday morning, I found myself in the Psych office with no recollection of anything that happened after going to the station the week before. And throughout the day, I realized that no one could see or hear me except Lassie, but only if he was drunk or hungover, so I spent the days since hanging out with him, even after I was found; although I did go and basically spy on other people like you and my dad. The only other people that know besides Lassie are Chief Vick and Jules; although Jules has a slightly different version where it just seems like I've been talking to Lassie psychically; but you're my best friend and I believe that you deserve the truth. Oh, and I was there when Lassie got shot, and we somehow switched roles because now he's the one who is this weird spirit thing while I'm awake and he's who I've been looking at in the corner, not just the wall."

Gus just sat there stunned. He was not expecting all of that, even with what Juliet had told him. It would explain a lot more than Juliet's version. Gus glanced over to the far corner before looking back at Shawn who had closed his eyes even tighter once he finished. After a few seconds of silence, not knowing what else to say, Gus said, "Wow. That, that explains a lot."

Shawn finally opened his eyes and looked at Gus stunned. "What?! That's all you've got to say? Where are the millions of questions that I know are floating around that sweet coconut head of yours?"

Gus rolled his eyes, "How many times do I have to tell you to stop describing my head like that? People are going to think that we're dating! And while I support your claim of being bi, I am completely straight."

"Dude, you don't have to worry about that anymore because Lassie and I have totally hooked up now."

"What? How?" Gus asked flabbergasted. "Ew, are you saying that while you were this spirit-esque form you and Lassiter…dude, that's nasty!"

Shawn laughed as he looked between the far corner and Gus. "Dude, both of your reactions are priceless! But sadly, no. Nothing happened besides the occasional groping and several kisses, most of which were initiated by me, although I think Lassie started a couple."

"Dude, that is still too much information!" Gus said as he crossed his arms.

Shawn rolled his eyes, "Lassie would like me to tell you that the only kiss that he started was when we were at the cabin, and he was trying to get my attention during a panic attack I was having when nothing else was working. So we were totally both fully human? Physical? I don't know how else you want to describe it. He's being such a meany butt right now. He's threatening to end the relationship before it even gets started! Oh come on, Lassie! Don't be like that!" Shawn shouted at the far corner. "We are perfect for each other. Tell him, Gus!"

Gus shook his head. "I'm not getting into the middle of this."

"Too bad, you're already a part of it. Oh, fine! Be like that! Have fun hanging around your non-moving body!" Shawn sighed as he looked back at Gus. "Lassie is being a party pooper right now, and would rather be anywhere but here."

"Wow, and I thought that you couldn't get any more annoying." Gus said as he found the remote. "Want to watch some TV?"

"What?! You don't want to hear about all the things that I did and overheard as I was this spirit thing?"

"Not if it involves you talking about how you harassed Lassiter."

"I didn't harass him! Okay, so I did annoy him and kissed him several times when he clearly didn't want it, but that doesn't mean that I harassed him!"

"That's the definition of harassment, Shawn. It's even considered sexual harassment since you were kissing him as well."

"I've heard it both ways."

"Because I just explained it to you!"

"So, wanna hear about how I totally made Lassie think he was crazy?"

Gus sighed as he resigned himself to hearing the stories whether or not he wanted to. "Sure. But please keep any gross images out of your story."

"Okay, but it won't be as exciting without them."

"I think that I'll manage."


	40. Chapter 40

_ CHAPTER 40 _

Over the next few days, Shawn got several visitors, mainly people from the station, which Shawn knew was a long trip; and a few people that Shawn had gotten to know over the years from his travels and from Psych. His mom called on Monday to check in. She apologized for not being there, but explained that she was in the middle of a very important assignment, and would not be available to visit until next Sunday, possibly the weekend after that. Shawn had nodded, said he understood and missed her. After hanging up, he refused to speak to anyone until dinner, including Carlton.

Carlton spent most of the time in Shawn's room, just watching Shawn interact with everybody else. Shawn would sometimes look to him for clarification when he had forgotten something. Carlton would tell him and Shawn would give him a thankful smile before returning to the conversation. Since there seemed to be someone in the room at all times, Shawn only got to talk to him if just Gus was there or Henry was asleep. Carlton would leave a few times to give Shawn privacy, like when he was given sponge baths, but usually would not leave the hospital. He visited his body once while Juliet was there, but he found it too weird and did not really want to listen to Juliet giving him updates, especially when he overheard enough in Shawn's room.

Shawn slowly regained the use of his arms and legs, although they were still a bit painful at times from non-use and the numerous stitches all over his body. Every day, Shawn would ask the doctor if he could visit Carlton, and every time the doctor would say that he was not strong enough yet. On Thursday, Shawn was finally well enough to stand with crutches, although he still needed the wheelchair for traveling. He convinced his dad to go home that night so they could both get a full night's sleep.

* * *

When the doctor came back before lunch on Friday, Shawn asked again, "Please doc! I really need to see Lassie!"

The doctor sighed as he made a note on Shawn's chart. "Shawn, we go through this every day: you're just not strong enough yet to go visiting other patients, especially one who is still in critical condition."

"Why not? I can stand on my own, almost walk again, and have been using a wheelchair the last two days! I need a better reason than that!" Shawn glared and crossed his arms.

The doctor sighed and lowered the chart. "Very well. I've met with Doctor Evans, Mr. Lassiter's doctor..."

"Detective!" Both Shawn and Carlton said at the same time. Shawn smiled and had to bite his tongue so he would not accidentally say 'jinx' and have the doctor call for a psych eval, again. For some reason, this doctor just did not believe Shawn's claim of being a psychic.

"Yes, sorry. Detective Lassiter's doctor and I agreed that it would be best not to let you visit."

"Why not?"

"For one thing, Detective Lassiter hasn't woken up yet and is still listed in critical condition. Since he developed an infection, we don't want either one of you catching something since both of your immune systems are delicate at this time. Dr Evans is even considering putting Carlton in complete isolation until he gets better."

"And what else? I can see it there on the tip of your tongue. Which, when you think about it, is a very weird expression. Who actually looks at the tips of other people's tongues? That's so gross and a bit awkward too. Besides, the only way you can see the tip of the other person's tongue is if they hold their tongue out for you." Shawn stuck his tongue out and continued to talk. "Buth thenz it berry har to unerzand zem…"

"Shawn?" The doctor cut him off.

"Yeah?" Shawn asked with his tongue still out.

"Are you done?"

Shawn shrugged and talked normally. "Not really, but I see that you are. So, what's the other reason?"

"Your father is having you transferred to Santa Barbara General this afternoon."

"Wh-what?!" Shawn was shocked. He looked towards Carlton, who had a defeated look about him.

"It was bound to happen sooner or later." Carlton said as he crossed his arms and looked away.

"No! I can't leave Lassie! If I can't visit him, then I would like to stay in the same hospital as him so I can get faster updates!" Shawn practically yelled as he looked back at the doctor.

"I'm sorry, Shawn, but your father has already made the arrangements. An ambulance will be picking you up around 3 and you should arrive at Santa Barbara General by 5:30pm."

"But he can't do that! For one thing, he's not my power of attorney, Gus is. And that only applies if I am unable to make decisions for myself, which I clearly can!"

"I'm sorry Shawn, but Doctor Sandrine hasn't officially declared you mentally fit, so they can still make decisions for you. And as far as I know, Mr. Guster has also agreed to the plan."

Shawn felt betrayed. His best friend was conspiring with his father to separate him from Carlton. "But…I…crap."

"Shawn?" Carlton asked quietly as he got closer. "Are you okay?"

Shawn shook his head and looked between the doctor and Carlton. "I, I can't believe they did that. And they don't even have the guts to tell me."

"I'm sorry, Shawn. I…" The doctor was interrupted when the door opened and Henry walked in.

"Oh, hello, doctor. How is Shawn doing?" Henry asked as he walked over to the chairs.

Shawn crossed his arms and turned away, seeming to glare at the window.

The doctor looked between the two Spencers before saying, "He's progressing well physically. But mentally, he still seems to be having some problems concentrating."

"I see." Henry frowned as he looked at Shawn. "Kid, what's wrong?"

When Shawn refused to say anything, just shook his head, the doctor sighed and said, "I was just telling Shawn how he was being transferred this afternoon."

"Oh."

"As you can clearly see, he's not taking it very well."

"I didn't expect him to."

"I'm right here, you know." Shawn mumbled. "You should have discussed it with me earlier.

Henry sighed as he sat down. "Shawn. I…"

He was interrupted by a nurse coming in. "Excuse me, but Doctor Braxton, you're needed downstairs."

The doctor nodded. "Thank you Nurse Evelyn." Turning back to the two Spencers, he said. "I'm sorry, I have to go. I'll be back before you're transferred, Shawn."

"Thank you, doctor." Henry replied.

The doctor nodded and quickly followed the nurse out. 

They sat in silence for a few minutes until Shawn asked, "Why did you think it would be okay to have me transferred without discussing it with me first?" He continued to stare out the window.

"So, you're mad at me?"

"Yes."

"For thinking about your well being over what you want?"

"Yes!" Shawn turned around and glared at Henry. "I want to stay by Lassie! I want to be kept in the loop about him."

"Shawn, listen to me. You're going to be in rehab for 2 hours, twice a day, for at least a month. Does it make any sense to drive the two hour drive four times a day just so you can see Carlton for a few ten minute intervals?"

"Yes!"

"Shawn!" Henry smacked the arm of his chair angrily. "Why the hell is it so important? Huh? He probably wouldn't want to see you even if he was awake."

"Because I love him! I couldn't stand it if he dies without me telling him that in person!" Shawn shouted, not caring that he was on the verge of tears.

"Shawn?" Henry leaned forward to touch Shawn's hand, but Shawn pulled his hand away and hugged himself.

"H-he got hurt because of me and, and he can't die or I just might. I-I just don't know what I would do without my grumpy detective. I need him, Dad. I need Lassie to be okay." Shawn let all of his sorrow and pain show as he looked at his dad. "Please, Dad."

Henry sighed and rubbed his face. "Shawn, the doctors won't let you visit him. There's too much risk involved. Look, I can go see if we can wait a few days before transferring you, just in case Carlton wakes up in a few days, but they won't let you stay in the hospital forever. You are going to have to come back to Santa Barbara for rehab eventually."

"What if he doesn't wake up in the next few days?" Shawn asked as he played with the corner of his blanket.

"Then we'll come back on the weekends to visit him, but not every day."

Shawn nodded reluctantly. "Okay."

"So, do you want me to bring you back any lunch after I talk to the doctor?"

Shawn shook his head, "I'm not hungry."

Henry sighed as he stood up and quietly left the room.


	41. Chapter 41

_ CHAPTER 41 _

Shawn waited until the door closed behind his dad, and his footsteps retreated, before throwing the covers off.

"Shawn, what are you doing?" Carlton asked.

"I'm going to visit you."

"And how do you expect to do that? You can barely stand by yourself."

"Well, I've gotta do something, Lassie!" Shawn shouted as he disconnected the nonessential wires. "You haven't woken up yet, no matter what the doctors have tried! There must be a reason as to why you're hanging around, or why I can see you almost perfectly. We have this strange connection between us; and if I don't do something now before I go to another hospital, I've got a feeling that it won't end well for you and I can't live without you." Shawn shook his head before wiping a few stray tears away.

Carlton looked down at the floor. "Why do you care so much about me?"

"Because I love you, man. Do you need a better reason?"

"Do you really mean that?" Carlton asked quietly.

"Of course. Why would I lie about something like that?"

"But why me?"

Shawn shrugged as he sat on the edge of the bed. "I don't know. Maybe it's the way you try to close yourself off to the world, or the rare times that you smile. Maybe it's just the challenge of trying to get you to relax for even a second." Carlton looked up to see tears in Shawn's eyes. "But I do know that I can't get you off my mind, and that's never happened with anyone I've ever dated before. So that's gotta mean something, right?"

"Maybe." Carlton looked at the ground. "We're both going to be okay, though."

Shawn shook his head. "When did you become the optimist?"

"When you stopped being one."

Shawn laughed shakily. "Two peas in a pod, we are. Can't you see that we're meant to work out?"

"Shawn, you trivialize my work, make fun of my appearance, and just irritate the hell out of me."

Shawn looked down and away. "Sorry."

"But..."

"But?" Shawn lifted just his eyes.

"You somehow manage to make me smile and get me to socialize more. So, I guess you aren't too bad."

"Are you saying that you love me?"

"No. But maybe, in the very loosest sense of the word, I do ...like you."

Shawn smiled brighter than he had in weeks. "Good. Now, help me up."

"What?! I can't, I'm not really here."

"Dude! When I was a ghost-slash-spirit thing, I could touch you and move you and stuff. It only makes sense that you can do the same too; especially since our connection is stronger now. So get over here!" Shawn demanded as he slowly slid off the bed.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he did not immediately fall over. His muscles protested from the change of position, but Shawn ignored them as he reached for the IV stand. It was a little farther away than he could comfortably reach. As he stretched himself, he started to fall, and would have landed on his face if Carlton had not quickly grabbed him and pulled him back up.

"Thanks, Lassie." Shawn sighed with relief.

"You're an idiot. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, but I'm your idiot." Shawn smiled as he finally managed to grab the IV stand.

"Okay idiot, how do you expect to get past all the doctors and nurses in your hospital gown?"

"Well detective, my dad forgot to take his bag home last night, so I figured that I could borrow some of his clothes. As much as I hate his shirts, they will have to do."

"Fine. I assume that you want to be in one of those chairs."

"Yep. Now let's see if I can get my legs to work." Shawn took a deep breath as he put as much weight as he could on both Carlton and the IV stand before moving his foot forward. His foot did not move very far off the ground, but he did not fall over either. It took a lot longer than Shawn would have hoped to get to the farther chair, but it was a start. He gratefully collapsed into the chair and closed his eyes.

After a few seconds, Carlton said, "This isn't going to work, you know. You barely made it 6 feet. How are you going to make it down the hall, up the stairs or elevator, and then down another hallway, all without raising any suspicions?"

"Dude, what happened to your optimism a few minutes ago?" Shawn shot back as he leaned over to grab the first shirt that was sticking out and took the hospital gown off.

Carlton turned around with a blush to give him some privacy. "Well, what about the IV stand? Someone will at least stop you to ask you about that."

"Don't worry Lassie. With a little ingenuity, I can easily stick the IV bag in my pocket."

"That won't work because it needs gravity to pull the medicine through the line."

"Oh, is that how they work?"

"Yes!"

"Well, then when I get to your room, I'll just stick it on your IV stand. It shouldn't be that long of a trip, and the medicine isn't instantaneous anyways."

"You're an idiot."

"You already said that."

"Because it's still true."

"You're an abusive partner, aren't you?"

"What?! No! I would never hit my partner."

"You're verbally abusing me, and verbal abuse is still a form of abuse. Now help me up."

Carlton turned around to see Shawn sitting on the edge of the seat and trying to pull himself up, but failing. With a sigh, Carlton moved closer and lifted Shawn up by the armpits.

"Thanks." Shawn said with a sigh. "Hmm, maybe you're right, this isn't going to work."

"Now you say that?"

"Oh! I know! Let's use the wheelchair!"

"I'm not pushing you in the wheelchair. People will definitely stop you if they don't see anyone pushing you."

"True, but this wheelchair has the big wheels, so I can push myself! Or at least give the allusion of pushing myself while you're actually doing all the work. Allusion? Illusion? Delusion? Some lusion. "

"Illusion." Carlton sighed as he rubbed his forehead. "You are so annoying."

"Thanks! Now, over to the wheelchair!" Shawn ordered as he started walking towards it.

The trip to the wheelchair was a lot harder since Shawn did not have the IV stand and he was slowly losing energy. Getting into the wheelchair was a bit of a challenge, especially since the brakes were not locked, so the wheelchair moved when Shawn tried to sit down. But eventually Shawn managed to get himself in and took deep breaths.

Carlton tapped his foot nervously as he watched Shawn. "Can't we just wait for Henry to get back? It would be so much less work."

"Because the doctors said no and my dad is not one to go against the doctors when it comes to me, unless he totally disagrees with them. Now go check the hallway, make sure it's clear." Shawn slowly moved the wheelchair closer to the door. 

Carlton rolled his eyes as he checked the hallway. "It's clear, for now."

Shawn took a deep breath and opened the door. "Which way to the elevators?"

"To the left."

"Okay." Shawn nodded as he started down the hall. After only 10 feet, he looked towards Carlton. "Um, Lassie? A little help please?"

Carlton sighed. "Fine."


	42. Chapter 42

CHAPTER 42

They managed to get to Carlton's hospital room with only one person talking to Shawn, and that was when they were in the elevator. Taking a deep breath, Shawn double checked to make sure that the hallway was deserted before opening the door and going inside. "Wow, Lassie." Shawn breathed as he took in the sight that met him. "I didn't know that you could get any paler. Ow!" Shawn yelped at the head slap he received.

"Shut it, Spencer."

"Really? We're back to Spencer? You're so touchy."

"Whatever, Spencer. You better hurry up. The nurses check in on me on the hour."

"Really? On the hour exactly?"

"Unless there's an emergency, yeah."

"Hmm. So we have, what? 15 minutes? Cool. Let me know when there's only 2 minutes left." Shawn wheeled himself closer to the head of the bed and examined Carlton. There was a decent sized piece of gauze covering the bullet wound, his hospital gown was missing and only a towel covered him from his waist to the middle of his thighs. "Dude, you look so sexy in that towel."

"Spencer!" Spirit Carlton growled. "I have an infection and fever from the bullet wound, and they are trying to cool me down. That's why the lights are off and they keep replacing the IV with cold saline."

"Ohhhh. That would also explain why the room is colder than the hallway. I thought I was just imagining it." Shawn shrugged as he reached forward and grabbed the bedridden Carlton's hand. "Oh man, you are so hot right now, both temperature-wise and good looks. Although, you could do with a shave."

"Spencer." Carlton sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Let's get on with this. The nurse will be here in 12 minutes, assuming they're not looking for you already."

"Okay, okay. Just give me a minute to think." Shawn frowned before shaking his head. "I've got nothing."

"No surprise there."

"Hey! I do have one idea, but it's very fairytale-ish and I don't think it will actually work."

"What is it?"

"First, I need to stand up." Shawn let go of bedridden Carlton's hand and prepared to stand.

"You need to put the brakes down."

"Right, I knew that." Shawn shook his head as he quickly found the levers on the wheelchair and moved them. Ever so slowly, he stood up. He was almost all the way up when his arms started wobbling and spirit Carlton grabbed him. "Thanks." Shawn whispered. 

"No problem."

Shawn slowly moved his arms so that he was leaning on the bed. "Okay, Lassie. Now you have to close your eyes."

Carlton frowned. "Why?"

"Because you need to concentrate."

"Concentrate on what?"

"Me kissing you."

"How? If I close my eyes, how will I know if you're kissing me?"

"Hmm, fair point. Okay, new plan. I'm going to hold both your spirit hand and your body hand, and concentrate on trying to pull you together."

"If you're holding both of my hands, how are you going to hold yourself up?"

"Dammit, Lassie! Stop being so smart!" Shawn snapped. He reached over and pressed some buttons to raise the head of the bed while also lowering the whole thing. "I guess I'll have to sit on the bed then." Shawn carefully turned himself and sat next to the bedridden Carlton, whose head fell over onto his shoulder. "Aw, you're so cute Lassie. Like a little puppy using me as a pillow."

"Spencer?"

"Yes, Lassie?"

"You have 8 minutes."

"Okay." Shawn grabbed the bedridden Carlton's left hand with his right and reached out his left for spirit Carlton to grab. "Come on Lassie. You need to concentrate on what you feel."

Carlton sighed as he put his right hand in Shawn's. "Fine."

"No, Lassie, your other hand. So that I'm holding both of your left hands."

"Sorry." Carlton switched hands and closed his eyes.

Shawn squeezed both hands. "Did you feel that?"

"A little."

"Good." Shawn closed his eyes too as he slowly stacked all the hands together. "Did you feel that?"

Carlton frowned. "Yeah."

"Okay." Shawn shifted slightly on the bed and then did something that he had not done since he was a little kid: pray. He prayed that Lassie would get back into his body. He prayed that he would wake up. He prayed that they would both get better. And he prayed that they would get together. He knew the last one was a silly request, especially since the other three were so much more important, but he did not want Lassie to change his mind, for he knew that they would be really happy together.

"Spencer? Spencer, it's not working. Shawn?" Carlton called, but it looked like Shawn had fallen asleep. "Great. The kid wore himself out and a nurse will be here in a few minutes to kick him out." Carlton sighed and looked back at their hands. He could feel Shawn's hand holding his, but he could not feel his body's hand. He reached his free hand out but it went right through his bedridden self's head. "This is just too weird."

He looked back at Shawn whose head had fallen next to Carlton's and their lips were almost touching. "I bet Shawn would call this a very cute picture if he could see this." Shaking his head, Carlton looked at the clock. They had about one minute before a nurse would show up. "One minute before noon. Huh, if it was almost midnight, it would be very fitting, just like a fairytale." Carlton frowned as he looked back at Shawn. "Fairytale." He bit his lip as he leaned closer and tilted Shawn's head slightly. "What the hell, if it doesn't work, then it won't hurt anything." Taking a deep breath, Carlton closed his eyes as he kissed Shawn.


	43. Chapter 43

_ CHAPTER 43 _

Shawn had not even noticed that he had fallen asleep, until he felt someone kissing him. He hummed happily and slowly kissed back. It took a few seconds before his brain caught up with him. He was in the hospital, in Lassie's room, so the only person who could be kissing him was Lassie; unless a random nurse decided to take advantage of him. 

Shawn slowly opened his eyes and saw that it was indeed Lassie kissing him. He squeezed both of his hands, only to realize that he only held one hand between his own. Shawn frowned and quickly ended the kiss. "Lassie?"

Carlton sighed and mumbled, "What?"

Shawn pulled back and looked around. The spirit Carlton was gone, leaving only the Carlton on the bed, who was awake. "Lassie! You're you again!"

"What?" Carlton mumbled as he slowly opened his eyes.

"You're not a spirit and you're in your own body and you're awake!" Shawn couldn't stop his grin as he squeezed Carlton's hand again.

Carlton looked down at their combined hands and then at his body. "You're right."

"You don't have to sound so surprised."

"I just, I can't believe that it worked."

"What worked?"

"A kiss at midnight."

"Midnight?" Shawn frowned as he looked at the clock. "Huh, that's weird."

"Technically it's noon, but it's close enough." Carlton winced in pain. "You should get a nurse."

"Why, what's wrong?"

"I think I just need stronger meds since I'm awake now."

"Okay." Shawn tried to sit up but could not muster the energy. "Um, I might be stuck."

Carlton rolled his eyes. "I meant pressing the call button. I think it's on the table next to you."

Shawn looked over and, sure enough, it was sitting there. "Oh, right." Shawn kept one hand on Carlton's as he reached over and pressed the call button. "Man, they're going to be so surprised."

"Yeah." Carlton smirked as he closed his eyes and tried to ignore the pain.

"So, how much trouble do you think I'm going to be in with my dad?"

"On a scale of one to ten? Probably an 11."

"Yeah, probably. But it's worth it." Shawn leaned closer and gave Carlton a quick kiss.

Carlton smiled as they parted. "Thanks for helping me."

"I would say that I'm just returning the favor, but you mean so much more to me than that."

"You too." Carlton smiled as the door opened.

"What is going on in here?!" The nurse sounded shocked as she found Shawn sitting on the bed. "Who are you and how did you get in here?!"

"I was just waking up my prince charming." Shawn said with a smirk as Carlton chuckled.

"He's awake?" The nurse asked as she came closer and tilted Carlton's head towards her.

Carlton winced from the movement and mumbled, "Stop."

"Yep." Shawn squeezed Carlton's hand reassuringly. "Awake and in pain. You might want to get a doctor." 

"I need you to leave first." The nurse scolded. 

"Sorry, no can do. Plus, I'm kind of worn out from the journey over here." Shawn showed her his hospital bracelet. "I may or may not have gotten permission to leave my room."

The nurse grabbed his wrist and quickly read the information. "Well, Mr. Spencer, you're going to have to get back to your own room, especially since Mr. Lassiter…"

"Detective!" Both Shawn and Carlton said.

"Especially since Detective Lassiter has just woken up and needs to be examined by a doctor!" The nurse grabbed the phone off the wall and dialed an extension number, all the while keeping an eye on Shawn and Carlton. "Yes, this is Nurse Helen. I need an orderly to escort a patient back to his room, and I also need Doctor Evans paged since one of his patients has woken up. Yes, room 538. Thank you."

She quickly walked around the bed to where Shawn was sitting and said, "I need you to get down."

Shawn sighed and squeezed Carlton's hand. "Sorry, Lassie, but I'm being kicked out."

Carlton nodded and looked at Shawn. "Come back soon."

"I'll try, but I'm already in a whole heap of trouble. I'll be lucky if I get to stay in this hospital."

"I'll put in a good word with the doctors."

"And my father?" Shawn smirked, causing Carlton to chuckle.

"Sometime today, Mr. Spencer!" The nurse snapped as she pushed the wheelchair closer.

"Fine!" Shawn sighed as he slowly sat up and moved his legs off the bed. He managed to stand up while still holding Carlton's hand, but had to let go once he was in the wheelchair. "I'll be back, Lassie."

"Holding you to it." Carlton mumbled as he fought to stay awake.

The nurse wheeled Shawn to the door just as it opened and a doctor walked in.

The doctor quickly surveyed the room and asked, "Nurse Helen, what's going on?"

"I came in after noticing that the nurse's call button had been pushed, and found Mr. Spencer here sitting up on the bed with Detective Lassiter, who is now awake."

"Shawn Spencer, I presume?" The doctor crossed his arms. "If I recall correctly, Doctor Braxton and I agreed that it would be best if you didn't visit Detective Lassiter until both of you were better."

"But I had to come down! It was important! Look, he's even awake now."

"I see that, but you need to return to your room. I'm sure that you would appreciate having the IV deliver your medicine correctly, instead of it sitting useless in your pocket."

"What?" The nurse frowned as she moved forward and pulled the IV bag out of Shawn's pocket. "Mr. Spencer! That is not how an IV works!"

"I know that now that the meds are wearing off!" Shawn snapped back as he crossed his arms.

"Nurse Helen, I believe that Colin is down the hall and will be more than happy to escort Mr. Spencer back to his room. Would you mind helping me examine Detective Lassiter?"

"Of course, doctor." The nurse nodded as she pushed Shawn out into the hallway while holding the IV bag high. They were immediately met by a tall bulky guy in a candy stripper's uniform.

"Wow, I didn't know they made those uniforms that big." Shawn commented as he looked up at the guy.

"Colin, this is Mr. Spencer. He belongs on the 4th floor, room 426. Would you mind bringing him back there?"

"Of course." Colin nodded as he took the IV bag and began to push Shawn down the hall.

Shawn fidgeted in the wheelchair before asking, "Has anyone ever told you that you look like the Rock? Seriously dude, it's uncanny. Hey! Do you wrestle? Because I bet the WWF would love to have you on, especially if they got the Rock to come as well. They could bill you as his long lost twin brother and have you fight it out for who gets to carry on the family name or whatever."

"I don't wrestle." Colin said as he hit the button for the elevator.


	44. Chapter 44

_ CHAPTER 44 _

They were still a few rooms away when Shawn recognized his dad's voice yelling. Turning towards Colin, Shawn smiled, "You know, I haven't had lunch yet. Why don't we take a detour to the cafeteria? I heard that they have some pretty awesome pizza. I'll even pay. Well, I'll get it added to my hospital bill, so it'll probably be my dad paying for it, but still. Free lunch for you! What do you say?"

"I already had lunch."

"You don't talk much, do you?"

"No," Colin replied as he opened the door.

Shawn closed his eyes and braced himself for the storm that was to come.

"Shawn! Where the hell have you been?! I go talk to the doctor so that you can stay longer, and then you pull this stunt?! What if something had happened to you? And the nurses or doctors couldn't get to you in time?"

"Mr. Spencer, you need to calm down." Doctor Braxton interrupted. "Shawn couldn't have been gone more than 20 minutes when the nurses noticed that he was missing. And as you can clearly see, he's okay. I suggest that we get him restituated into the bed and talk about this calmly. Mr. Spencer, I suggest that you go out into the hallway until you're a little calmer."

Shawn opened his eyes to see Henry glaring at him. Henry crossed his arms and said, "Fine."

"Thank you. Colin, would you mind helping Shawn onto the bed?"

Once Shawn was settled in the bed and his dad was outside, the doctor started to examine him.

"So Shawn, did you manage to hurt yourself or aggravate your injuries from your little excursion?"

Shawn sighed. "Not really. Besides being a little tired, I don't think that I'm any worse."

The doctor hummed in agreement as he checked Shawn's stitches. "Well, the only problem I see is that you have more medicine left in your IV bag than you should in the hour since I last examined you. Care to explain?"

"Okay, I didn't know exactly how the IV worked, so I may have put it in my pocket in order to hide it."

"Shawn, you are not convincing me that you should stay at this hospital if you're going to keep pulling disappearing acts."

"But I had to do it, Doc! I had to see Lassie!"

"I understand that you're concerned for your friend but..."

"He's awake!"

"Excuse me?"

"Lassie, he's awake! We did this very fairytale-ish thing where we kissed at midnight except it wasn't midnight, it was noon, and Lassie actually kissed me first, but you probably won't believe me."

"So let me get this straight. You snuck out of your room down to...Detective Lassiter's room, and managed to wake him from his coma, all in less than 30 minutes?"

"Yeah, basically."

"Wow. That's definitely fairytale-ish."

"See! Lassie needs me! Can I stay here with him?"

"We can only keep you a few more days, probably Tuesday at the latest when we take out the stitches. After that, you have to go to rehab."

"Okay. *yawn* When can I see Lassie again?"

The doctor laughed, "It depends on how he's doing. At the earliest, tomorrow morning. But remember, you're also in trouble, especially with your father. I'll try to put a good word in."

"Thanks Doc." Shawn yawned.

"Now, we should probably get you into the hospital gown before you fall asleep." The doctor smiled as he pressed the nurses' call button.

"Hey, Doc. Do you think you can get rid of my dad for me?"

"Even if I wanted to, I don't think that I could persuade him to leave. I'll try to explain to him about what happened with Detective Lassiter; maybe he'll take it easier on you."

"I doubt it."

An attractive nurse came in. "Can I help you?"

"Yes, Nurse Freema. Can you help Shawn here back into his hospital gown?"

"Of course."

"Thank you. Shawn, be good."

Shawn smiled, "I'll try, Doc, but I can't make any promises."

The doctor shot Shawn a look as he left the room. Shawn sighed as he leaned back. "So Freema, are you new here? Because I've been here for over a week, and never saw anyone as beautiful as you floating around."

Freema smiled as she went to the dresser and grabbed a clean hospital gown. "Yes, I am. I started Monday in the ER, but I'm covering someone else's shift today."

"Ah! I was wondering where Carol was. Don't tell Carol, but you are so much prettier than her."

"Thank you, Shawn. But we need to get you changed. Do you think you can help me?"

"I don't know, I'm pretty tired from my visit. But for you, I'll try."

"Thanks."

* * *

  
  


Shawn was half-asleep when he heard his dad come in. Henry cleared his throat before saying, "Shawn, we need to talk."

"I'm sleeping." Shawn mumbled.

"Obviously not if you can answer me. Tell me what the hell you were thinking?!"

Shawn sighed as he opened his eyes and stared at Henry. "I had to see Lassie. Dad, he's awake now because I helped him!"

"So I've heard, which is why I'm not yelling right now. But you shouldn't have snuck out in the first place! What if something had happened? You could have gotten hurt or kidnapped, again! And nobody would have noticed! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

Shawn took a good look at Henry and could see how stressed his dad was. He had started to relax since Shawn had woken up, but he had definitely gotten worked up again. "Dad, as you can clearly see, I'm fine. I'm sorry that I worried you. I'll try not to run off again without telling you first, at least until I'm 90% better."

Henry crossed his arms. "Shawn…"

"No, dad. You don't understand! Lassie and I, we have this weird connection, and I felt that I had to go see him or else he might not have ever woken up again. I don't regret leaving, even if something had happened to me. Because as long as Lassie is fine, then I don't care about me!"

"Shawn, you can't go risking your life like that."

"Why not? It's my life! I'm 31 years old! I can do whatever the hell I want with it!"

"Shawn…"

"No! I'm not having this argument with you! I'm sick and tired of going around in circles with you because you don't like how I live my life! News flash, Dad: I've never listened to you before, so why the hell should I start now?!"

They stared at each other in silence for a few minutes before Henry said, "Is that how you really feel?"

"Yes. I'm tired of the fighting."

"So am I." Henry walked over and grabbed his bag. "I'll see you around, kid. Be sure to get some sleep." Without another word, he walked out of the room.

Shawn sat there stunned and whispered, "What the hell just happened?"


	45. Chapter 45

_ CHAPTER 45 _

Shawn woke up with a start and looked around the darkened room. He saw a figure asleep in the chair next to him; from the posture and sound of snoring, he could tell that it was not his dad. Grabbing the closest thing next to him, Shawn flung it at the person as he turned on the light over the bed. The person yelped as first the empty cup hit them in the thigh and then the light blinded them. "Oops." Shawn cringed when he recognized his best friend.

"What the hell, Shawn?!" Gus exclaimed. "There are easier and less painful ways to wake me up!"

Shawn looked down at his sheets guiltily. "Sorry. I guess I had a bad dream, and waking up to find the room dark and some unknown person sleeping near me… I just wasn't thinking."

"I guess I can forgive you. But next time, call for a nurse or turn on the light before you attack me." Gus said as he stood to turn on the ceiling lights.

"Will do." Shawn smiled as he brought the bed up. He looked for the clock and frowned when it said 9:35. "Dude, what are you even doing here?! Visiting hours ended ages ago. I'm surprised the nurses didn't kick you out."

"Oh, they tried. But I can be almost as persuasive as you and your father." Gus said with a grin as he flicked his nose and sat down.

"You used the Pluto line to distract them, didn't you?"

"So what if I did?! It worked, didn't it? Except not on the tall orderly. I had to promise to keep an eye on you and not let you sneak out. That dude is scary."

"Oh! You mean the big guy who should go on the WWF as The Rock's twin brother?"

"Hmm… Yeah, I guess he does look a bit like the Rock. And it's WWE now, has been for a while."

"I've heard it both ways." Shawn shrugged.

"Of course you have since they used to be the WWF until the World Wide Fund for Nature sued them and basically made them change their name."

"So technically, I was right."

"Maybe 20 years ago when the Rock first started. They've also gone by WWWF and WWFE."

"Either way, I was right."

Gus shook his head. "Why do I even bother?!"

"Because you love me!" Shawn said with a grin, causing Gus to chuckle lightly. "So, why are you here after visiting hours?"

Gus shifted nervously. "Do I really need a reason to visit my best friend?"

"No. But you do need one for staying after hours. So spill. My dad called you, didn't he?"

Gus nodded. "Yeah. And it was really weird too. I was about to take a lunch break when he called. Said that he was leaving the hospital and suggested that I came by to supervise you, probably stay overnight as well. He said since you seemed well enough to, and these are his exact words, 'go traipsing through the hospital like a lovesick teenager who thinks he's invincible,' then you would be fine without him for a few days. He said he was going on a fishing trip and might be back Monday afternoon. Then he hung up. I tried calling him back, but he wouldn't answer. Would you mind telling me what happened today? It seems like the whole world tilted on me."

Shawn sighed. "Well, let me start with the good news: Lassie's awake!"

"So I've heard. Juliet told me right after your dad called. I even visited him while the nurses checked on you. They said you were really tired and barely stayed awake for the bath."

"How is Lassie doing? Did he mention me at all?"

Gus frowned, "Sort of. He wasn't awake when I first went in, and when he did wake up, he seemed a bit out of it, probably from the drugs. He asked how you were and I told him that you were sleeping. He kind of snorted before going silent. The nurses kicked me out before too long."

"Aww! My Lassie-face missed me! I hope I can go visit him tomorrow!"

"Shawn, what the hell happened today? And don't leave out any details!"

"Fine! First, I found out from my doctor that you and my dad conspired against me to get me transferred! Not cool man, not cool."

Gus shifted uncomfortably. "Sorry, Shawn. But you know how persuasive and scary your father can be. And I figured since Lassiter's spirit/ghost/soul/whatever was hanging around you, you would be okay with it. Your dad was supposed to tell you about it and I was going to meet you at SB General tonight."

Shawn crossed his arms and looked down. "I guess I can't be completely mad at you. But next time, especially if I'm awake, talk to me before you make any important decisions, okay?"

"Of course. Does that mean you forgive me?" Gus asked nervously.

"Gus, dude. How long have you known me?" Shawn shook his head as he held out his fist. "Of course I do!"

Gus smiled as he completed the fist bump. "Thanks. And I am sorry about that. These last few weeks have just been so weird and overwhelming and I guess…"

"Gus! I already forgave you; you don't need to keep apologizing."

"Right…So, what happened after you found out? I guess you had a fight with your dad?"

"Yeah. There were a few today. I might have accidentally admitted that I love Lassie in front of him; and that I was afraid that something would happen to Lassie if I didn't see him."

"Wow. I can't believe that you told your dad that you're in love; with Lassiter no less."

"Yeah, I know. I blame the drugs."

"Shawn. Most of the effects of the drugs are gone and you're only on acetaminophen for the pain, they wouldn't mess with your head."

"That's what you think."

"Shawn!"

"Moving on. Dad left to see if they could let me stay a few more days, and then that's when I made my escape."

"What did Lassiter say?"

"That I was an idiot, what else is new? But he did help me. We managed to get all the way to his room without anyone stopping us, or rather me since they couldn't see Lassie…Anyways, we get in the room, and Lassie looked so pale and sick, but oddly still awesomely hot in just that towel…"

"Ew! Shawn! Please no descriptions!"

Shawn sighed, "Fine! We tried to think of a few different ways to get him to wake up. I sat on the bed and held both his hands. But then I fell asleep."

"You fell asleep?"

"Yeah. That trip was very tiring. Anyways, the next thing I know, Lassie is kissing me awake! It was cute since I was sitting on the bed next to him and he had his head on my shoulder half the time. I wish I had my camera. The kiss wasn't half bad either. Or the ones to follow…"

"Shawn!"

"Yeah?" Shawn said with a half smile.

"Moving on. I'm guessing you were caught?"

"Yeah. Lassie was starting to feel pain, so he made me call a nurse and man! That nurse made Nurse Hatchet look nice!"

"I think you mean Nurse Ratched, and no, you haven't heard it both ways."

"But I like the name Nurse Hatchet better. Anyways, she shoves me out of the room and has the big Rock twin guy take me back to my room, just in time to hear my dad yelling at the doctor before he turns his tirade onto me. Needless to say, we had another fight that escalated pretty quickly, and he just left."

"Just like that? What exactly did you say?" Gus leaned forward as Shawn rubbed his temples as he thought.

"Um…something about how I'm tired of him not liking how I live my life; I never listened to him before; and that I'm tired of all the fighting with him."

Gus just sat there stunned for a few minutes. "Damn. No wonder he left. You basically told him that you didn't want him in your life anymore."

"What? No! I didn't say that at all! I said…"

"I know but think, Shawn! I know you guys care for each other in your own weird ways; but your interactions mainly consist of him critiquing what you do, telling you what you should do, and fighting about it. You saying that you're tired of the fighting is the same thing as saying that you're tired of him! I might have stormed out too."

"Damn." Shawn sighed as he leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "I screwed up, didn't I?"

"Big time."

"And he's not answering his phone?"

"Nope. He said that he won't be home until Monday, at the earliest."

"Okay. I guess I should figure out how to apol-apolo-apocal…"

"Apologize?"

"Yeah, that."

Gus rolled his eyes and grabbed the remote. "I can't wait to see that."

"Who said that you were invited to watch?"

"Well, how do you think you're going to get over there?"

"Dammit, you're right. But wouldn't you rather wait in the car just in case I need to make a quick escape?"

"No. But I might stand by the door so I can be outside first, potentially leaving you alone with him."

"You would abandon your best friend to his father?"

"Yep. Any day. Your dad scares me more than the Chief, Lassiter, and Juliet on bad days combined, probably doubled."

"Thanks a lot, Gus!" Shawn said half-hurt, half-grateful for having such a good friend.


	46. Chapter 46

_ CHAPTER 46 _

Gus arrived at the hospital Monday morning in a good mood. Since Shawn had stayed a few days longer, the physical therapist was able to reevaluate Shawn after breakfast on Monday and cleared him for going home, as long as he still used a wheelchair for long distances, crutches for short ones, and went to physical therapy four times a week. Although, then the question became where was Shawn going to stay. Usually Henry would insist, if not demand, that Shawn stay at his house so Henry could keep an eye on him. But they had not heard from Henry since Friday. Gus planned on stopping at the Spencer house once they got back into town. He was not kidding when he told Shawn that he would leave him there. Henry still scared him, but the two of them needed to work it out; because there was no way Gus could stand Shawn staying at his house for more than a week while he is injured. Shawn only seemed to have two moods when injured: whiny and restless. With all the hours Gus had taken off work the past few weeks, Gus could not really afford to stay and watch Shawn. And if someone was not there to watch him all day, Shawn was bound to do something stupid. It was better to have Henry do it since Shawn usually would listen, however reluctantly.

Taking a deep breath, Gus rearranged the stuff he was carrying so he could open the door to Shawn's room. "Hey Shawn!" Gus greeted.

Shawn ignored him as he held the phone to his ear and played with the edge of the blanket. "Yeah, okay... No, I understand... Well, I'm fine now so there's no rush... Yeah, today. Lassie is fi-... Oh, alright... Yeah, I'll talk to you later. Bye mom." With a sigh, Shawn hung up the phone and continued to look dejectedly at the blanket.

Not sure what to say, Gus coughed loudly and walked over to the chairs.

"Gus! Perfect timing!" Shawn exclaimed with a fake smile. "Is that a pineapple smoothie for your bestest best friend?"

"Yes. And bestest is not a real word." Gus rolled his eyes as he handed over the drink.

"What are you talking about?! Bestest is totally a word! I use it all the time." Shawn said as he took a sip. "Mmm. For example: This pineapple smoothie is one of the bestest I've ever had!"

Gus shook his head as he sat down and drank his coffee. "Why do I even bother correcting you?"

"Because you wuv me!" Shawn said with a grin before spotting the paper bag Gus still had in his hands. "Oo! What else did you bring me?"

"Who said that it was for you?"

"Dude, you know better than to bring a bag of food if you're not gonna share."

"Fine." Gus sighed as he passed over the bag. "I stopped at a bakery next to the smoothie place and got mini muffins. They only had one pineapple muffin left, so I also got apple cinnamon, blueberry and strawberry cream."

"Gus, you weren't the bestest person ever before, you definitely are now." Shawn said before devouring the pineapple muffin.

"You mean I beat Lassiter?"

"You will always beat Lassiter, at least in the bestest best friend department."

"Thanks, I guess." Gus grabbed the bag after Shawn took a second muffin. "Dude, you better slow down. You don't want to throw up because you ate too much food and have to stay in the hospital a few more days."

"But Gus! They are so good!" Shawn stuffed half the muffin in his mouth. "Besides, I need to gain some weight back." Crumbs went flying from Shawn's mouth.

"That is disgusting Shawn!"

"So?" Shawn took a sip of his smoothie to wash it down. "We've done worse and disgustinger things."

"That's not…" Gus sighed and looked around the room. "Never mind. So, do you want to talk about your mom?"

"Nope." Shawn answered quickly as he picked up the remote and turned on the television. "Dude, I think there's a Back to the Future Marathon on today. Care to watch it with me?"

"Watch it as in actually watch it and make the occasional comments? Or the watching where you insert your own lines over every other line so loud that I can't hear the real lines of the movie?"

"Umm, both?"

"How about the first one where we actually watch it?"

"Okay. Since you did bring me food and a pineapple smoothie, I guess we can have it your way."

"Thank you." Gus said smugly as he turned his chair towards the television.

* * *

  
  


A few hours later, as Shawn and Gus were discussing how it was very unlikely that Marty's family would still be in the same neighborhood after his parents were successful, the doctor came in and happily greeted them. "Good morning Shawn! I have great news for you!"

"They're giving away free pineapple smoothies down in the dining hall?!" Shawn exclaimed as he turned off the television.

Gus laughed as the doctor frowned. "No. But I'm releasing you today and it looks like Mist-, Detective Lassiter might be released tomorrow afternoon."

"Aww! You couldn't let us go together? That would be a perfect chapter ending for our epic romance!"

"Sorry Shawn, but I need to release you today so we can have the room free, and they want to make sure that Detective Lassiter's infection hasn't come back."

Shawn sighed, "Alright. But can I come back tomorrow?"

The doctor shook his head. "You have therapy tomorrow, so I don't think you will have time."

"Oh, I'll make time." Shawn smiled.

"I'm not sure that you will feel the same way after your session, but good luck with that. Now, I want to make sure that your stitches didn't cause any problems and a nurse should be able to remove them today. Then I'll have the nurse go through your release papers with you."

"Release papers. It sounds like I'm leaving jail or something."

The doctor laughed, "Well in a way, you kind of are."

"Thanks doc." Shawn grumbled with an eye roll.

"Now Mr. Guster, if you wouldn't mind."

"No problem." Gus replied as he quickly got up and made for the door.

"Gus! You don't want to see my cool scars?!"

"Hell no Shawn, and you know that!"

Gus quickly slipped out the door before he could hear Shawn yell, "You need to get over your fears!"

* * *

  
  


Shawn impatiently sat on the edge of the bed as he drummed a beat on his legs. "So Gus, I was thinking that we should get some jerk chicken once we're out of here."

"Shawn, you just ate lunch an hour ago!"

"And your point is…"

Gus sighed, "Fine. There's a place a few blocks over that has it. Not as good as the one near our office, but Juliet and I liked it."

"Ew, you're going to take me to the same place that you guys went on a date?! No, thank you!"

"Shawn! First of all, we didn't go there as a date. I had stopped there one time to get lunch and offered to buy Juliet something since I was already out, so we didn't even eat there. And secondly, even if we did eat there, why would you be so against going there? I am not you. I would not make out in such a public place, especially when we have only been dating for a few weeks."

"And that is why I'm the fun one in this friendship. And if you think that I've only made out in public places, then you don't know me as well as you should."

"I know that Shawn, but I was trying not to put any unwelcomed images into my head."

"Oh, you mean like the image of Lassie and I lying in each other's arms, completely naked?"

Gus shook his head quickly and waved his hands in front of him. "Ew! Shawn! Why the hell would you say that to me?!"

"Because of your reaction right there!" Shawn laughed.

"I'm going to kill you Shawn!" Gus glared.

"Then you're gonna have not only my dad after you, but Lassie as well."

Before Gus could reply, the door opened. Nurse Evelyn looked between the two of them; Shawn doubled over from laughter and Gus looking about ready to kill him. "Umm, am I interrupting something?"

"Nope, not at all Evie! I was just tormenting my bestest best friend in the world!" Shawn grinned as he wiped a stray tear away.

Evelyn shook her head as she gave Shawn some papers. "Here you go, Shawn. Just sign these and you will be a free man again!"

"Oh, how wrong you are! Because my heart has been stolen by a tall and lanky Irish cop who took a bullet for me."

Gus groaned, "Really Shawn? You had to go there?"

"Of course!"

Evelyn laughed. "Here's a list of what you should be looking out for symptom-wise. You should get medical attention right away if anything on the second list occurs."

"I'll be sure to call 911 if I'm unconscious for long periods of time or fall over dead."

She shook her head as she leaned down to hug him. "Well I'm definitely going to miss that humor of yours."

"But what about my gorgeous hair?"

"Eh, not so much. Don't give the rehab nurses too much trouble."

"Oh, you know I will!"

Evelyn stood up with a laugh and went towards the door. "Take care of him, Gus."

"Of course."

Once the door was shut, Shawn turned to Gus and said, "Alright. Now let's go see Lassie!"

"Shawn! You are supposed to go home so you can be well rested for your therapy session tomorrow!"

"But Gus! I have to see Lassie before I leave! If the doctor is right, I might be too tired tomorrow to visit him. Plus they only let me see him for like 5 minutes yesterday. And supervised by Nurse Hatchet no less."

"That's not…*sigh* Never mind. Fine, we can go visit him. But only for 10 minutes. I want to get back to Santa Barbara before rush hour."

"Awesome!" Shawn exclaimed. "Now help me into this infernal wheelchair."


	47. Chapter 47

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some of the dialogue might be a little confusing but, for the most part, the back and forth banter is mainly Shawn and Gus, unless it's clearly someone else...
> 
> So, enjoy!

_ CHAPTER 47 _

When they opened the door to Carlton's hospital room, they found Carlton sitting in one of the chairs with a nurse standing over him. "Mister Lassiter..."

"Detective!" Carlton growled.

"You are still supposed to be in bed! You might pull out your stitches." The nurse crossed her arms.

"I'm tired of that damn bed; and if you won't let me leave, then I want to at least sit in this damn chair!" Carlton growled back.

"The doctor already explained why you need to stay, and he barely agreed to let you be discharged tomorrow."

"Then if you have nothing new to add, leave me the hell alone!"

The nurse looked at her watch before sighing, "I will be back in a half hour to help you back into bed. You are not to get up without someone to help you. Do I make myself clear?" They stared at each other for a few seconds before Carlton gave a curt nod. "Good. Mr. Spencer, you have 15 minutes. Use them wisely."

Shawn and Gus stared at the nurse, surprised that she knew it was him since her back had been to them the entire time. Without another word, the nurse turned and left, leaving them in silence. "How did she know it was me?" Shawn asked, finally breaking the silence.

"She probably heard the wheelchair as you entered. Ears like a hawk, that one." Carlton said as he leaned back and looked Shawn over. "You've been released." He stated.

"No, I've escaped again and convinced Gus to be my driver. Ow!" 

Gus smacked him in the back of the head. "Shawn!" Gus reprimanded as Carlton just rolled his eyes.

"What? He knows I was kidding!" Shawn rubbed the back of his head. "Dude, why would you smack someone in the back of the head who has brain damage?!"

"You don't have brain damage, Shawn. The doctor already cleared you of it."

"You still could have knocked a few screws loose and caused pmsd."

"It's PTSD, and you already have enough screws loose that a few more wouldn't make much of a difference."

"I take great offense to that."

"Enough!" Carlton shouted as he rubbed his forehead.

After a few seconds of silence, Shawn stage whispered, "Ooo, I think you're giving Lassie a headache, Gus."

"If anyone is giving him a headache, it would be you and your big mouth, Shawn."

"My mouth can do a lot of pleasurable things to Lassie; the least of those is giving him a headache."

"Ew! Shawn! What did I say about too much information?!"

"You're the one who started it."

"I did not!

"Did too."

"Did not!"

"Did too."

"Did not!"

"Did too, times infinity!"

"Shawn! You can't escalate that quickly, it's not fair."

"Who said life was fair?"

"No one, but everyone knows that you have to gradually make your way to infinity."

"Nope, I do not accept that reasoning. Besides, I doubt that everyone knows that. Babies don't know that."

"Babies don't…"

"Oh sweet lady justice, just Shut UP!" Carlton shouted before wincing and holding an arm across his abdomen.

"Gus! You hurt Lassie!"

"I did not!"

"Did too."

"Did not!"

"Did…"

"I said stop!" Carlton growled. Once they were silent, he continued quietly, "Now, was there a reason that you came into my room, besides wanting to piss me off even more? You should be glad that I don't have my gun."

Shawn sighed as he turned to Gus. "Gus, would you excuse us for a few minutes?"

Gus looked between Shawn and Carlton before nodding. "Sure. But only 5 minutes! By the time I come back in, you two better be done doing... whatever it is you will be doing."

"What?! Gus! You mean you don't want to see any sexy man-lovin?"

"Hell no, Shawn; and I don't want to hear about it either!" Gus snapped as he left the room.

Shawn laughed and moved his wheelchair closer to Carlton.

"Why did you do that?" Carlton blushed slightly.

"Because he's my best friend, and I wouldn't be doing my best friend duties if I didn't embarrass or freak him out every once in a while. Haha, duties."

Carlton shook his head. "You're insufferable."

"Thanks!"

"Idiot."

"Aww, you're going to make me blush!"

Carlton chuckled as he watched Shawn get closer. "Whatever am I going to do with you?"

"Well, I have a few ideas." Shawn smiled and he got within a few inches of Carlton's face, as close as he could get without falling out of the wheelchair. "If you know what I mean."

"Yeah, I can imagine." Carlton leaned closer, wincing as he pulled on his stitches again.

Shawn leaned back a bit and looked him over. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, or at least I will be." Carlton grabbed Shawn by the neck and pulled him closer for a kiss.

After a minute, they parted and Shawn sighed, "Mmmm, now I've been waiting a long time for that."

Carlton blushed, "Well, there are plenty more where that came from. That is, if you are sure this is what you want." He looked down and away, suddenly afraid that Shawn would reject him.

"Las-Carlton. We've been through this a million times! Yes, I want a relationship with you. But if you really don't feel anything for me, then I'll back off. But you're not going to push me away because you're scared. I'm in it for the long haul." Shawn lifted Carlton's chin up. "If you'll let me, that is. I won't force you."

Carlton bit his lip and nodded. "Okay. But we take it slow."

"Glacier slow."

"And we only tell people when we are both ready."

"Okay. But my dad and Gus already know. So you're entitled to tell two other people, if you want."

"I'll think about it; but the only two people who would need to know and would be accepting of it, are O'Hara and my sister."

"You have a sister?"

Carlton laughed, "What, does that surprise the great psychic detective?"

"I'm gonna ignore the fact that you not only called me a psychic detective, but also a great one; and say no, that doesn't really surprise me. You do seem like the older brother type, especially of a younger sister. I just can't figure out if you have any other siblings, since you also display characteristics of a middle child."

"Oh shut up!" Carlton groaned out of frustration.

"Make me!" Shawn grinned and stuck out his tongue.

Carlton huffed as he pulled Shawn into a passionate kiss. When they were just getting into it, Carlton felt Shawn counting down with his fingers on the back of Carlton's head. Carlton was about to ask him about it, when Shawn hit one and the door opened.

Shawn smiled into the kiss as they heard Gus exclaim, "Oh hell no! Shawn! I even gave you a couple more minutes, and yet I still walk into this?! And I can tell by the fact that you haven't come up for air yet that you planned this. You have one minute to leave this room or I'm leaving you here. Understand?"

Shawn finally broke the kiss and sighed, "Got it."

"Good! One minute Shawn!"

Shawn laughed as they heard Gus stomp out. "He's so predictable."

Carlton leaned back in his chair. "You should go."

"I know. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Okay."

"What time are you being released?"

Carlton shrugged. "Probably sometime in the afternoon. O'Hara is picking me up and the doctors are probably going to try to keep me here as long as possible. I'll call you when I leave."

"Okay. Do you want to have dinner?"

"Sure. That is if you're not too worn out after therapy."

"Nah, I'll manage. Besides, I have a wheelchair; so if I get tired, I'll just have someone else, mainly Gus, push me around."

Carlton chuckled. "Then I guess I should be a little thankful that I'm also incapacitated at that moment, or else you would rope me into it as well."

"Oh don't worry, Lassie. You'll get your turn!" Shawn smiled brightly before glancing at the door. "I should go. Gus is about 10 seconds away from leaving me."

"Okay." Carlton nodded and met Shawn halfway as he leaned in for another, quick kiss.

"See ya tomorrow!" Shawn said happily as he backed his wheelchair up.

"Yeah, tomorrow." Carlton replied as he watched Shawn somehow manage to get the door open without turning the wheelchair around.

As the door shut behind him, Shawn yelled, "Love ya Lassie-face!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A reminder that this story "occurs" during season 3 of Psych, so Shawn didn't know about Lassie's sister before. I had mentioned her earlier in the story, so, for explanation, I'm going to say that, because of the brain damage Shawn has suffered, his memories from being a spirit/ghost/thing had started to fade as the rest of his memory got restored(?) better(?), I hope you know what I mean….


	48. Chapter 48

_ CHAPTER 48 _

It was almost 5pm when Gus pulled into Henry Spencer's driveway. Gus was glad to see that Henry's truck was there; now he just had to figure out how to get the two Spencer men to talk. They can both be as stubborn as mules and neither would admit that they were wrong. He could always try ding-dong ditch and leave Shawn at the door before driving off. But that would involve moving Shawn without waking him up, and, as much as Gus might have been joking before about leaving Shawn, he would feel pretty bad if they did kill each other.

While Gus was debating whether it would be safer to go home and call Mr. Spencer to find out when a good time to come over was, Gus noticed movement behind one of the kitchen curtains. Within a few seconds, Henry moved the curtain aside and studied them. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Henry nodded at Gus before moving away from the window.

Letting out a sigh, Gus leaned over and shook Shawn's shoulder. "Come on Shawn. Time to wake up."

"Mmm, just a few more minutes Lassie." Shawn moaned as he shifted slightly.

"Eww!" Disgusted, Gus slapped Shawn in the back of the head. "Wake the hell up, Shawn!"

"Ow!" Shawn yelped as he finally woke up. "Dude, so not cool. I'm gonna have a bruise there!"

"No, you won't. It was barely a tap."

"If my hair starts falling out, you're buying me a wig."

"If anyone should buy you a wig, it should be your dad since hair loss is 90% genetic."

"Pssh, like that's gonna happen." Shawn said as he took a look around. "Man, speak of the devil. You could have at least warned me. What the hell am I supposed to say to him?!"

"I don't know. How about something around the lines of 'I'm sorry I snapped at you and I really do appreciate having you in my life.'"

"Nah, too mushy. I'll think of something, I always do. Come on, let's get in there. The sooner we enter, the sooner we can leave, and then the soonest we can go get some pizza!"

"Really Shawn? More food? You just ate 2 hours ago."

"So?"

"You had to try almost every item on the list and barely left any crumbs on your plate."

"I was hungry."

"And you want to eat again?"

"Hey, sleeping makes me hungry. I always need to eat within a half hour of waking up or my stomach protests, and very loudly at that."

Gus shook his head as he opened his door. "Whatever Shawn. Let's go."

"That's what I've been saying!"

When they finally made it into the house, they found Henry washing dishes over the sink.

"Hey Dad!" Shawn called as he hobbled in with crutches. When Henry failed to acknowledge them, Shawn rolled his eyes as he walked over to the kitchen table. "So, how was your fishing trip?"

"Fine." Henry grunted as he put a plate in the dish drainer before turning around. He looked Shawn over before stating, "You've been released."

"Yep, sure looks that way." Shawn responded as he sat down, setting the crutches against the table. Gus leaned against the wall near the door so he could either make a fast escape or intervene quickly.

"Not transferred?" Henry asked.

"Nope."

"Where are you staying?"

"With Gus. At least for tonight. I might shack with Lassie for a while, you know, help him out a bit."

Henry snorted as he opened the fridge and pulled out a beer. "Like you'll be much help."

"Hey! I can do plenty, as long as it doesn't involve stair climbing or driving."

"You don't cook or clean in any way. You won't be any help."

"I can order fast food!"

"So could Carlton. Kid, just admit it. I know you like him and he likes you, but I don't think that two people who are incapacitated at the same time should be looking out for each other."

"Hey! I still have my head!"

Gus tsked, "You're thinking of decapitated; incapacitated is similar but means that you are ineffective and unable to help."

"Thank you, Webster, for that awesome definition. Are there any other words that you would like to define for me? How about 'butt out'?"

"That's a phrase, not a word."

"It's made up of words."

"The point is, kid," Henry interrupted, "you can barely take care of yourself on a good day, and sure as hell are not capable of taking care of anyone else, especially when you're injured."

Shawn shook his head as he grabbed his crutches and stood up. "Who asked you anyways? I don't need your permission, I'm 31 years old."

"Shawn." Gus warned but knew he was too late.

Henry crossed his arms. "Then you need to start acting like it. Grown ups don't run away from every little problem that comes up. That's how you got into this mess in the first place, running away when things got tough."

"I knew coming here was a mistake. Come on, Gus." Shawn nodded as he headed for the door.

"That's right, run away again. That's all you'll ever be good at."

"I almost died, dad! Of course I want to run from that!" Shawn snapped as he turned around quickly.

"Shawn..." Gus grabbed Shawn's arm to steady him as he swayed slightly.

"No!" Shawn snatched his arm away and stepped closer to his father. "If Lassie had gotten there just 5 seconds later, I would have been dead. And do you know how fucking scared I was?! Seconds away from death and not being able to do a damn thing?! And I couldn't even get my mind to think clearly; my most reliable asset was failing me! Hell, I thought I was dead a few times." Shawn started shaking as he choked out. "I just want to forget it all, but I can't. Every time I close my eyes, I'm there in that cabin and sometimes, when I'm dreaming, I don't make it, or Lassie dies too and I just, I j-just want it all to s-s-stop." Shawn's chest was starting to hurt but he needed to say the last bit. "A-a-and if run-running away h-h-helps, then I-I'll do it!"

Shawn finally stopped talking as he placed a hand on his chest and was having trouble breathing. He found himself swaying and would have fallen if it was not for the arms that grabbed him and pulled him over to a chair. He felt a hand slapping his face and looked up to see his father's face, full of concern.

"Shawn, calm down. You're just having a panic attack but you need to breathe."

Shawn nodded as he closed his eyes and took deep breaths. He tried to block out everything but his breathing, and only vaguely heard Gus and his dad talking.

"Should I call an ambulance?"

"Not yet. Let's see if he can calm himself down first. This is why I don't think that it's a good idea for Shawn to stay with Carlton."

"Well, it's got to be better than him staying by himself during the day while I'm at work, and you know he won't last more than a few days with you."

"Yeah, I guess."

After what felt like an eternity, the pressure on his chest finally let up and he was able to breathe regularly. With a sigh, Shawn leaned back in the chair.

"About damn time, kid. Gus was about ready to call an ambulance."

Shawn chuckled. "I'm okay dude."

"I see that now, but it was scary watching you." Gus said nervously as he went to the sink and filled a glass of water.

"Trust me when I say that it was scary to experience." Shawn smiled gratefully when Gus handed him the glass.

Henry coughed awkwardly as he leaned against the counter. "Gus made a good point that, if you stay with Carlton, then you at least won't be alone for most of the day. And while I'd rather you stay here; I know that we'll be at each other's throats within a few days. So you have my…permission to stay with Carlton. Although I will be taking you, and probably Carlton, to therapy sessions."

Shawn stared at his dad for a few seconds before saying, "Wow, that was surprisingly nice of you. What exactly happened during that fishing trip? Did you get abducted by aliens, or are you actually a pod person?"

Henry threw his arms up in the air before leaving the room. "I give up. Gus, call me later about rehab."

"Yes sir." Gus replied before taking the glass from Shawn and handing him the crutches.

"I love you too, Papa Bear!" Shawn shouted.

"Get out of my house!" Henry yelled back.

Shawn laughed as he followed Gus. "See Gus, I told you I would think of something to make up to my dad."


	49. Chapter 49

_ CHAPTER 49 _

Shawn was having a pleasant dream about pineapples and tall, Irish detectives, when he was awakened by the telephone. With a groan, Shawn pulled the blanket over his head and yelled, "Gus! Phone!" 

After awhile, the ringing finally stopped, only for Gus's voicemail to come on:  _ "Hello. You have reached the home phone of Burton Guster. If this is a client, please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible. If this is a lovely young lady calling, please call my cell phone so we can talk right away. If this is about a Shawn Spencer, then I am sorry to inform you that I do not know this person, so there would be no point in leaving a message. If this is Shawn, well, we will talk later. Thank you for calling. Please leave your message after the…BEEP" _

Shawn laughed at the intro and got comfortable as someone left a message.  _ "Shawn, it's Gus. I know you are there and you had better be in the bathroom right now. Your dad will be by in an hour to take you to therapy, so please do not make him wait. I will call back in exactly 50 minutes, so you better pick up the phone. Oh, and there are some pineapple chunks in the fridge and Cocoa Puffs on the counter for you. Don't be late!" _

By the time Gus was done leaving the message, Shawn was already fast asleep, now dreaming about pineapples and chocolate cereal.

* * *

  
  


Someone pounding on the door startled Shawn awake. As he rubbed his eyes, his dad's voice floated through the door. "SHAWN! Wake up and open the damn door! I don't have all day."

With a sigh, Shawn slowly sat up as he responded, "Just hold your horses, old man. I can only move so fast."

Henry harrumphed, "Maybe if you weren't still sleeping, I would be inside already."

"Dude, Gus said 10:20, it's barely 10:05. I still had another 13 minutes to sleep."

"We need to leave by 10:20, and I know you need some ass-kicking to get up." Henry said as he opened the door and walked in.

"Hey! How did you do that? And why didn't you do it sooner so I didn't have to get up." Shawn yawned as he ruffled his hair.

"I found Gus' not-so-hidden hide-away key. He should know better than to leave a fake rock on a 2nd floor landing, even if he does put a few more rocks with them."

"I've been telling him that for years. Maybe he'll listen to you." He stood up, adjusted his crutches, and started for the kitchen. "At least this means I have time to eat breakfast."

Henry grabbed the back of Shawn's shirt, causing him to stop. "You need to shower first."

"But daaaadddd!" Shawn whined as he tried to get loose without falling over. "I'm sooo hungry! Can't you hear my stomach grumble?"

"You also stink and should have gotten up earlier. You can eat in the truck."

Shawn huffed as he changed directions. "Fine. But don't eat any of my pineapple!"

"Like you could do anything to me if I did." Henry mumbled as he went to straighten up the living room.

* * *

  
  


Once his therapy session was over and they were back in Henry's truck, Shawn closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of his dad driving. To think he almost missed this. Just driving in the rusty old truck, listening to his dad curse at bad drivers and commenting on whatever game seemed to be on the radio; today it was a Yankees and Indians game. Within 10 minutes of driving, he could tell that they were not going back to his dad's house, so he leaned his head back and got comfortable, deciding that he needed as much rest as he could get.

"Shawn!"

Shawn woke up with a start and looked around. He was still in his dad's truck, but they were parked outside a hardware store. "What?" Shawn moaned as he rubbed his eyes.

"I need to run inside for a couple of minutes. Do you want to come with me, or would you prefer to stay in the car?"

"In the car, geeze. Why did you even bother to wake me up?" Shawn asked as he got comfortable again and closed his eyes.

"So you wouldn't wake up to an empty truck."

"Whatever. Wake me up when it's time for lunch."

Henry sighed as he got out and slammed the door.

"Ow." Shawn mumbled before drifting back to sleep.

* * *

Shawn heard his phone ringing and quickly answered so it would stop making noise. "Yello?"

_ "Hey Spenc-ah, *cough* Shawn. It's Carlton." _

Shawn smiled and opened his eyes. "Hey Lassie! What's up?"

_ "Well, I said that I would call when they released me. So, this is that call?" _

Shawn laughed as he made sure that his dad was not anywhere nearby. He could just barely see him inside the post office they were parked in front of. "Aww, why thank you for calling. So, up for some phone sex?"

Shawn heard Carlton sputtering and tried hard not to laugh so that he could hear Carlton's response.  _ "N-no. Wh-why would you even suggest such a thing?! I'm still at the hospital, and with O'Hara no less!" _

"For exactly that reaction. You and Gus are just too easy to mess with"

_ "You should be glad that I'm not there to smack you in the back of the head." _

"Don't you think that my poor head has suffered enough? Why does everyone keep hitting me?!" Shawn whined.

_ "Maybe you should stop being a smartass." _

"But everyone loves my ass exactly as it is."

_ "Oh sweet justice. I'm hanging up now." _

"Wait! Are we having dinner tonight? I doubt that my dad will let us eat alone, but I have been 'given permission' to stay at your house while we both recover."

_ "Oh. Okay. Well, dinner sounds good, as long as you are not cooking." _

"*Gasp* Lassie! You don't trust my cooking?"

_ "Not really." _

"I'll have you know that I have worked at plenty of restaurants over the years, both fast-food, fancy sit-down and everything in between."

_ "As what? Entertainment?" _

"No! Well, in a few of them I did get to perform; but mostly I worked in the kitchen, sometimes as the assistant chef."

_ "Fine, whatever. Just no cooking until you are off crutches. I don't need you burning my house down all because you can't balance correctly." _

"But that makes it all the more fun!" Shawn smiled brightly.

_ "No Spencer." _

"*Sigh* Fine. So, see you tonight?"

_ "Yeah." _

"5?"

_ "Sure." _

"Bye Lassie!"

_ "Bye Shawn." _

"Love ya." Shawn whispered.

There was silence on the other end before Carlton whispered  _ "Ditto" _ and quickly hung up.

Shawn laughed as he put his phone away. Henry picked that moment to return to the truck. He gave Shawn a concerned look as he buckled up. "What is it this time?"

"Nothing, Dad. I'm hungry, why haven't we eaten yet? It's almost 2!"

Henry shook his head as he started the truck and pulled out of the parking space. "I figured while you were sleeping, I could get all my errands done."

"Are you done?"

"Close enough."

"Good. I feel like pizza."

"Okay. But you can only get pineapple on half the pizza; I don't want any of it on my half."

Shawn chuckled, "Fine. As long as you're paying."

"If I'm paying, maybe I shouldn't put any pineapple on it."

"You wouldn't do that to an injured person, would you?"

"It depends on how annoying they're being."

"That hurts. Deep, deep down inside."

"Shut up, kid."

"Never! Muwahahaha!"

Henry shook his head as they turned a corner.


	50. Chapter 50

_ CHAPTER 50! _

After Henry made him wash all 10 of their dishes and cutlery, Shawn quickly retreated to the living room before his dad could give him another task. Carlton was sitting on the couch watching the news. Shawn plopped down beside him and put his feet on the coffee table. Ignoring Carlton's glare, Shawn stretched his arms across the back of the couch, causally brushing Carlton's shoulder. "So, did we miss anything good?"

"Depends on your definition of good." Carlton mumbled as he pushed Shawn away from him a bit.

"How about anything major?"

"There was an earthquake in Europe that killed at least two dozen people..."

"Something more local?"

"Wildfire in Northern California going on day ten."

"Anyone killed?"

"Not yet, but a few have been hospitalized due to smoke inhalation."

"Hmm, okay."

Henry appeared in the living room, putting on his coat. "Okay Carlton, dishes are washed and put away; leftovers are in the fridge; the linens on both beds are changed; and I put Shawn's bags in the spare bedroom, although his meds are on the kitchen counter."

"Thank you, Henry. But you didn't have to change the bed sheets."

"Well, the sheets in your guest bedroom smelled like stale perfume and mothballs; it was just better that I washed them before Shawn tried to."

Shawn wrinkled his nose. "Thanks dad."

"Shawn gets a pill within an hour of waking up, another one 8 hours later, and a third one right before bed." Henry said as he handed a pill to Shawn

Shawn sighed and quickly swallowed the pill, "Dad, I'm perfectly capable of taking my own pills."

"No, you have the habit of skipping doses and then complaining later that you're in pain and try to take double the dosage. It doesn't work like that, kiddo."

Shawn shook his head and looked back at the TV. "I'm not even going to dignify that with a response."

Henry picked up his baseball cap and made for the door. "Well, have fun, but not too much fun, Shawn. If Shawn gets too out of control, give me a call and I will drag his butt out of here."

"I'll keep that in mind." Carlton said as Shawn quietly fumed.

"Good night."

"Night Henry."

Carlton nudged Shawn who mumbled, "Night."

Henry chuckled as he left.

Once the door shut, Shawn scooted closer to Carlton. "So, should I move my stuff into your room or leave it where it is?"

"Why would you move it?" Carlton asked, a bit confused.

"Because I'm sleeping with you, silly!"

"I never agreed to that. I said you could stay at my house, I never said anything about you sharing a bed."

"Then what's the point of me being here?!"

Carlton coughed nervously and tried to put some space between them. "So we can keep each other company and make sure we take our pills and not burn the house down."

"Well, if I'm not sharing a bed with you, then I can't do this." Shawn leaned forward and gave Carlton one of his most passionate kisses and it was not long before Carlton reciprocated. Ending the kiss, Shawn leaned back slightly to look Carlton in the eye. "So, am I bunking with you tonight or am I calling Gus?"

"As long as you respect my house rules."

Shawn threw his hands up in frustration. "Ugh! We've been through this already. You know I'm not one for rules."

"Rule number one: whenever you enter my house, you must take off your shoes."

"What about my walking cast? I'm not supposed to take it off, except when I'm about to shower. Or take a bath, as the doctor suggests, except I refuse to use bubble bath; no need to lose all my street cred."

"You don't have any street cred."

"That shows how much you know." Shawn smiled

Carlton shook his head. "Rule number two: as soon as you are done eating, you need to wash your plate and put it in the dish drainer."

"Dude, you have a dishwasher! Can't I just put the dirty plates in there?"

"No. I never use enough dishes to run the dishwasher even once a week."

"That's because it was only you who works all day. There are now two of us who are here basically 24/7, so plenty of dishes to run it at least twice a week."

"Fine. As long as you rinse them off first."

"I'll try but no promises."

"Rule number three: no…" Carlton waved his hand between them. "Hanky-panky until both of us are cleared for work."

"Hanky-panky? Really? We are two grown men…"

"At least one of us is." Carlton mumbled.

Shawn hit him in the arm. "As I was saying, we are BOTH grown men and should use the adult words. Sex. And why can't we have any sexy man-lovin?"

"Hypocrite. Because I don't want either of us getting hurt and then having to explain to the doctor or therapist or, heaven forbid, your father, what happened."

"Okay, I see your point, sort of. But I can be very, very careful." Shawn said with a wink as his hand slid down Carlton's fly.

Carlton's leg twitched, which caused Shawn's arm to move slightly and he elbowed Carlton in the stomach.

"Ow! Damnit!" Carlton exclaimed as he curled around his midsection.

"Oops, sorry!" Shawn said with concern as he moved back a bit. "But I had no idea that you were that sensitive. I didn't even get started."

Carlton glared at Shawn. "Not helping."

"Do you need meds? I can go get them, maybe."

"No." Carlton took some deep breaths as he slowly sat up. "Just, um, just don't do it again."

"Okay. Can I kiss it to make it better?"

"No. But you can kiss my lips." Carlton blushed slightly.

Shawn grinned widely. "Okay."

This time, the kiss was slow and lingering and, when they pulled apart, Shawn kept his eyes closed and smiled. "That was nice."

"Yeah."

"We should do it again."

"Not now."

Shawn frowned as he opened his eyes. "Why not?"

"Because I want to see this next news report." Carlton said as he turned up the volume and got comfortable.

Shawn scoffed, "Rude," and hit Carlton in the arm, causing him to chuckle. "If you're going to ignore me, then I'm going to use your manly breast as a pillow."

"Manly breast?" Carlton questioned as Shawn laid his head on Carlton's breast.

"Yep. Manly breast. Because just saying breast makes me think of a woman, and you, sir, are no woman."

"You can't just say chest?"

"Nope. I like saying manly breast. It doesn't come up in conversation very often."

"I would hope not."

"Hey, I thought you wanted to watch the news?"

"I do." Carlton replied as he turned the volume up even more.

"You know that just makes me louder?"

"Yeah, I know." Carlton sighed.

* * *

  
  


A half hour later, Carlton was surprised at how quiet Shawn had been. He would make a few comments here or there, but for the most part, he let Carlton watch the news. For the past five minutes, he had been completely silent. Looking down, Carlton noticed that Shawn was asleep. Shawn definitely looked younger when he slept, at least when he was not in the hospital. He still needed to gain a few pounds and get more sun, but would probably solve those problems within the next week or two.

He pulled Shawn closer and smiled when Shawn moaned happily. He was not entirely sure that they would work out, but he was willing to give them a shot. Shawn could be a bit crazy and eccentric at times, but after 38 years of the safe and stable route, it was about time that Carlton tried something new. He definitely smiled and laughed more around Shawn, even if Shawn did annoy the hell out of him. It was going to be an adventure, and Carlton was willing to try, as long as it was with Shawn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End! Thank you for reading!


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